Division Ten
by LucarioKid
Summary: When a monster of unparalleled power attacks and mortally injures Desmond, killing his entire team. It sets into motion the creation of Division Ten. A new division that works to defend New LA from the dangers of Mira. They say Desmond has the worst luck, the Devil's own luck. Now he has to go back out and prove that he can defeat the monster with his team, and claim his revenge.
1. Prologue

**So the main character is not a very key thing to the story of X. I'm just going to get that out of the way right now. I will explain everything once we get there, but for now just trust me. If you want a good similarity story thing, then watch the movie IRobot. I think it's got Will Smith in it. Anywho, the idea is not that he distrusts technology, but that he doesn't want to be overrun by it in a sense. You'll see.**

 **Now, the flight packs will have been made pretty early, but they will be a model that uses a lot of fuel, and is prone to having problems. There will be some other minor changes, but nothing too serious. You'll know them when you see them. Also, there is a theme song for this story. It's called My Demons by Starset.**

 **Also, the beginning will be a little dark for lack of better words. Now then, let's get going!**

"Keep moving! Keep running! Don't stop!" He picked up the pace, turning back briefly to see the dark shadow with the yellow lights chasing him.

"First my Skell, and team! Won't this thing give up!?" He kept running, hoping he would reach the cave he knew was near. The monster was closing in on him though. He turned, seeing it raising a claw to slice him. He dove to the ground, the claws barely missing him and kicking up dust around him.

"Christ!" He started to get to his feet when something slammed into his body and launched him through the air. He hit the ground, the wind knocked out of him. He slowly got up, his vision shaking and fading. He sucked in air and started to cough. He got to his feet and started to run when he turned. The beast pulled back a clawed hand and dropped it. He moved to the side, thinking he had dodged it when he felt intense pain on his right arm. He looked over to see the problem. He had no right arm.

His crimson blood was shooting out of his arm, and his bone splintered at the end. He shouted when he had the back of the monster's hand slammed into him. He flew through the air again, slamming into a rock wall. He felt his bones crack, his left arm being compressed and every bone shattered. then he started to cough blood out of his mouth. He hit the ground, watching as the monster walked towards him slowly.

Its yellow spines started to glow, the beast hissing. He raised a hand again, bringing it down and smashing his legs, turning the bones to powder. He screamed loudly, clenching his eyes shut. He forced them open, watching as the monster took a claw and pointed it at him. The claw started to glow with a yellow energy as the beast continued its hissing. He watched as the claw was forced into his back right shoulder. He cried out is pain as it slowly cut through him to his left waist. But he could feel something being left behind.

He couldn't tell, but he didn't care either. He was being torn apart by a monster that he could only guess was enjoying it. He wanted to fight, but it hurt too much. He could feel himself wasting away to death. He knew he wouldn't have a second chance like everyone else would. Then he heard the gun shots.

"Get it away from him! Luna, grab him and get him back to the city! Go!" The pressure from the claw let off and he felt something grab him and pick him up. He was then being flown through the air, lights dancing in his vision. He was losing his vision and could feel the thing in his back moving around and entering his body. But he couldn't speak. He was losing consciousness fast.

His last thought were of his team. The ones he was leaving behind. He closed his eyes, grunting in pain.

"I'm... _sorry..."_ Then he lost consciousness.

* * *

"Here! I need to go back for my team!" She had dropped the man off, spending no more time and taking back to the skies to find her team. They were just sent out to deal with some Dilas in Oblivia, not fight whatever that monster was. Now her team was out there, outmatched and without backup. She wanted to urge her Skell faster, but knew they had a tendency to explode and short out if one did that.

When she got back in the area she only saw smoke, causing her to worry.

"Please, God, no." She descended down, seeing nothing but Skell parts thrown around. She exited her Skell, looking around the area in silence. She walked forward, then fell to her knees. She started to cry loudly, burying her head in her hands.

"Why!? Why did we have to come to this planet!? Dammit!" She continued to cry, then looked to the Skells around her. She had left them. She walked to a hunk of a Skell, recognizing it as one the one her leader piloted. She placed her hand on the green shell, her tears falling on it.

"I'm so sorry." She heard movement inside it. She looked through a hole to see a bloody corpse.

"Lucas! Are you ok!?" The body moved, she saw her leaders face. Battered and bloody.

"Luna... How's the day find you?" She tried to pry open the shell.

"I'm going to get you out of here! I promise!" She started to when she heard him tell her to stop. She looked in, seeing him slightly smiling.

"You need to get out of here before it comes back. Now go. That's an order." She wanted to argue, but couldn't.

"I let this happen." Lucas shook his head.

"Like Hell you did. You saved someone and yourself. I ordered you too. If you want to blame anyone, blame me. Now get out of here. Just wake me up with the LifeHold ya hear?" She nodded, standing up.

"I'm so sorry, Lucas." She heard him laugh.

"I'm not. Get going, Girl!" She returned to her Skell, flying it up into the air.

"When I find that LifeHold I'm waking you up first. I swear."

* * *

"Where... am I?" He felt his eyes open, but he could barely see anything.

"Hospital. You've suffered a traumatic experience." He was tempted to respond with, "No shit." but held his tongue.

"Why can't I see?" He heard a shuffling of papers.

"That beast that attacked you left behind a toxin of sorts that has become fused with your muscles, or what remains of them. It has also badly damaged your eyes as a result. The toxin is now crystalized in your back in the shape of the scar it left you. I'm sorry, Desmond. But you can't do anything but get a Mim." He clenched his teeth tightly.

"No Mims. I will never have a Mim!" He was scared of them, and saw them as lifeless shells. He would not become one of them." He heard the door open and heard heavy foot steps. Then a familiar laugh.

"That sounds like the Desmond I know. Christ, you have the Devil's own luck, ya know?" Desmond smiled at the familiarity of the voice.

"Vandham! Why are you visiting me?" He heard another laugh.

"Well, it's not every day when your cousin gets hospitalized and not his Mim either. Still can't believe you don't have one. Or how you got away with not having one.: Desmond smiled.

"You know me. Breaking all the rules. Now, is there some way I can get out of here and back into the field?" He heard his cousin sigh.

"I don't know. I think I know someone who can help. Let me ask her. Also, you have a visitor. The one who saved your ass." Desmond nodded, shifting slightly while his cousin and the doctor left. He heard light foot steps walk in and stop. There was silence before he chuckled.

"Are you gonna talk first, or am I?" He didn't get an immediate response, but did get one eventually.

"You're not a Mim from what I heard. You could have died for real, you know." He nodded, smirking.

"What's so bad about the risk?" There was more silence before he cleared his throat.

"For what it's worth, thank you." He wasn't sure if she was smiling or not, but he thought he could feel like the air was more calm.

"You're welcome. I guess in a sense we're the same now." He cocked his head at the choice of words.

"How so?" She was silent before speaking again.

"My entire team is dead. So it yours. We both have nothing. It's almost horribly funny." Desmond sighed in slight anger.

"When I get out of here, I'm going to kill that thing."

"W-What?" He looked in her general direction, scowling.

"I'll kill that damned thing for what it's done. We were sent to kill it. I am... Was a Harrier and our mission was to kill that thing. I still have a job to kill that thing. I won't let my team have died in vain." She was silent before walking towards the door.

"If you ever get out of here and get a new team to kill that thing, I'll be the first to join." He heard the door open but called to her.

"What's your name?"

"Luna. Good day." The door closed and Desmond waited in the silence, remembering to monster.

"I won't let it get away. I swear to God that I'll kill that bastard! I just hope Vandham can get me out of here."

* * *

"Are you sure that this will work?" Vandham usually had a large amount of faith in Lin. She was smart, sassy, funny and a damned good mechanic. But what she was thinking of was way more than he had originally planned on. He just wanted to add cybernetic limbs to Desmond to get him back out into the world, then maybe back into the field. And here Lin was, thinking of how she could turn him into a weapon of mass destruction.

"Hold it, kid. We don't even know if he wants to go back out into the field." Lin frowned at him.

"Well, I talked to him and he wanted to go not just out, but hunt down the thing that almost killed him. And from what I've heard about it I need to make him as strong as possible. And a new Skell with state of the art technology would help by leaps and bounds. Plus, since he's not a Mim I can almost make his Skell his Mim. In a sense. I need to run some tests with him before I get the project underway. But I have a lot of plans for him, Sir. This could really help humanity! I'm so excited."

Vandham ran a hand through his short hair. He sighed, remembering how he had felt when he saw his cousin. Whatever was in that toxin the doctor described did a hell of a lot more than make his vision fade. His skin had become pale and his hair turned silver. His eyes had become a pale yellow, which had really scared him. He wanted nothing more than to kill the monster that hurt him, but they couldn't find it. The thing just vanished. They had people setting up probes to help find it through FrontierNav, but that could only do so much.

He thought about it, realizing this is what Desmond also wanted. Vandham knew the team he was on. All great people. He guessed his cousin would want a piece of the beast. Then the girl... Luna. She was also interested in finding it. There had been another incident but with a PathFinder and his team. He only survived because he hid in the swamps of Noctilum. But that worried Vandham. It meant the monster was moving. Most stayed in one area and were relatively easy to track. This one could be anywhere from Primordia to Cauldros.

So the more he thought about it, the more he like it. Then he started to have the gears in his head turn. Something he would have to talk to the director general with and Nagi. He looked to Lin, nodding.

"Just make sure you don't kill him, alright?" She nodded to him, giving her signature smile.

"I got this!" Vandham smiled as she sprinted away.

"I know you do. I'm just worried if Desmond has anything left in the gas tank after all he's been through." They had been trying to get the crystal, even a small amount of it, out of his back for analyzing but they couldn't. All it did was cause him intense pain. Vandham pulled out his comms device, calling Nagi.

"Yes, Vandham?"

"I need to cash in a favor. A slightly big one." There was a chuckle from the other side.

"What do you need?"

* * *

"Desmond? Can you hear me?" He nodded.

"Wake up!" He shot up, still seeing the fuzziness he had grown used to after the few days.

"What!?" There was a laugh that he recognized as Vandham's. Desmond growled.

"If I had legs and hands and could see I would choke you to death."

"You wish." There was a new sound of someone clearing their throat.

"Desmond, I'm Lin Lee Koo. I'm going to be giving you your new limbs and other things." He looked in her general direction.

"You sound really young." She giggled.

"Thirteen years and counting." Desmond gulped loudly.

"Vandham, are you sure about this?" He heard his cousin laugh, patting his back, right on the crystal. Desmond his the slight pain by gritting his teeth.

"Absolutely. She's the best in the business. She's probably the only one I trust to cut into you." Desmond sighed loudly.

"Thanks, cousin." Lin looked between them quickly.

"You're related!? No way!" She started to rant on quickly, making Desmond's head start to hurt. Thankfully, Vandham cleared his throat and got her attention.

"Lin. The surgery?"

"Oh ya!" Desmond was about to ask when a needle pierced his neck, a cool feeling coming over his body.

"Sweet dreams!" The last thing he heard was his cousin laughing at him.

"Ass...hole."

* * *

Desmond slowly cracked his eyes, still seeing things around him as fuzzy and dark. He heard distant voices, making him look over to see moving shapes. It was mostly white. Then his hearing started to return.

"Can you see me?" He shook his head.

"Must be a feedback loop in the visual mainframe circuitry. Hang on." He felt a jolt through his body and his vision cleared. He saw a young girl with two clips in her hair that looked like red swords. She held up two fingers.

"How many fingers and I holding up?"

"Two." His voice was coarse and tired.

"Can you move your hands?" He looked down to see two dark grey arms resting by his side. He did what he remembered wiggling his fingers would do. They slightly moved and he smiled.

"Great! Move your new legs! I command you!" He wiggled his toes, seeing the dark grey toes moving. He saw his entire legs were also mechanical. He turned to the girl he guessed was Lin.

"Thank you." He then turned to his cousin.

"When can I get back out there?" Vandham waved his hands in annoyance.

"Not for a bit, buster. Besides, someone wants to see you." He looked where they were gazing to see a women with red hair sitting in a chair. Her hair was in a pony-tail, the tail resting over her shoulder casually.

"Who're you?" She stood and walked over to him, smiling.

"Luna. Nice to meet the new you. I believe I have to talk to you about recruitment and working under you now. Sir." Desmond smiled back to her and turned to Vandham.

"What Division will we be a part of? Harriers, still?" Vandham motioned Lin to leave, the young girl grumbling under her breath.

"The thing is, we have decided a whole new division would be in order for you. With a mission to not just hunt down this monster, but any others that are on this level of dangerous. We've received word that this thing has actually been killing large Tyrants as well. Sounds good on paper, until it decides to some after Humans again. So you're team is going to hunt it down and kill it. Your division is top secret, we can't let work of this big demon getting out. Mass panic is never good.

So anyone who has come in contact with it will be transferred to your division. Κυνηγοί, is the name of your division. It means Hunter in Greek, or so Nagi has told me. I don't have a damned clue. But anything said in this room or any other about this beast is confidential. Also, we some new team members for you to meet. I'll let you all get acquainted." He stood, walking to the door and waving his hand before smiling and leaving.

Two men walked in, one with black hair that was short and spike, the other with light brown hair. The one with brown hair had glasses and was fairly short, the other was tall and had a very skinny build. They were all quiet before Desmond spoke.

"While does everyone seem to hate talking?" They chuckled lightly. Desmond knew he had to break the ice somehow. So he decided to use their new job as a tool.

"We all know why we're here. The monster. So, why don't we all talk about it. I ran into it in Oblivia. It took my arms and legs and left me with some gifts. Killed my entire team. Desmond is the name, and from what Vandham told me, I'll be leading us all. Luna, your turn." She nodded to them.

"My name is Luna. The beast killed my whole team while I was flying Desmond to the city after he had been wounded. I am a tactical specialist." They looked to the man with black hair. He gave a forced smile.

"Jason. I was out placing beacons with my team in Noctilum when the beast attacked and killed my whole team. I hid out in the swamps for two days before returning to NLA. I am very skilled in every environment and know how to survive off the land for weeks, if not months. I'm also a skilled weapons specialist and melee combatant." They looked to the last man who gulped.

"I've never actually met the beast." They exchanged confused glances, Desmond curious why someone with no knowledge of the beast was being sent to hunt it.

"But I'm one of the best field medics around and I know my way around explosives. I'm Mitch." That was why. He knew when they encountered the beast he would be the weak link. But they would have to work around that. The door opened and Vandham walked back in, four Dog Tags in his hands.

"These are yours. New division, new tags. You know the deal. Your division name is Διαίρεση δέκα, or Division Ten." Mitch looked at Vandham in a confused manner.

"But sir, there are only nine divisions." Both Desmond and Vandham chuckled to each other. All Desmond did was look to Mitch and smile.

"Are there." Vandham shushed him and handed them their dog tags, names already printed on them. In NLA, the division you were in was printed on the back of the wearers dog tags. When Desmond looked at them he was surprised to see, not a symbol, but words in Greek.

"What does it say?"

"Send unto me your prey, so that I may shelter them. I'm sure you'll all do great, once Desmond is back on his feet that is." Desmond glared at his cousin, the strong man chuckling as he left.

"Keep an eye on Desmond for me. He's got the Devil's own luck, as I'm sure you'll see very soon. Oh, by the way. Happy hunting." Desmond looked back to the tags, smiling at the words.

 _Αποστολή unto εγώ σας λεία, έτσι εγώ μπορεί να τους προσφέρω καταφύγιο_

 _"I'm coming for you, devil."_

 **That's the first chapter. Sorry about putting so much in, but I didn't want two relatively short chapters, so I gave you this one instead. Hope you guys enjoy. I will avoid using any more Greek unless I have to. I just thought it would sound cool... SO I used it. Haha! Anywho, if you have any questions then feel free to ask. Keep calm and may the Aura be with you!**


	2. First Target

**So if you thought they were going to go straight to fighting the Telethia then let me tell you how it will work. They have to learn how to work together and how to work to solve every situation effectively. So they will not be going straight for the Telethia. That is not to say they won't be picking up info on it, they just won't be trying to buckle down after it.**

 **Why am I repeating so much? Because some people won't listen the first time. Such is life. Anywho, thanks go out to The Rose Duelist for being an epic supporter and listening to some of my ideas for this story. Check out her stuff if you are feeling generous. If you're not, then check it out regardless. For me?**

 **Someone was curious what the name the Telethia would be. Well, it's modeled after the Tyrant Telethia you meet in the game at the Divine Roost, the farthest north part of Noctilum where it almost looks like things have been infected. The name of the Telethia is literally, Telethia: The Endbringer. So that's what they're calling it. Telethia. Also, ya... Medic is kinda useless. I can't even lie. His body language, his speech, everything he does is scared and confused. Whatever. It's still their mission to kill the Telethia: The Endbringer!**

 **Cain: What's that?**

 **LucarioKid: What the Hell are you doing here!?**

 **Cain: I saw a door, so I walked through and ended up here.**

 **Owain: I'm sorry, Travis, I tried to stop him! But when I attempted, he merely responded with, and pardon my French: Fuck the Police! He then proceeded to tilt every painting he saw on the way here.**

 **Cain: Mwahahahaha!**

 **LucarioKid: Walking through that hallway is going to give me such a head ache. Get out you Vampiric asshole!**

 **Cain: Ninja smoke act!**

 **Owain: I'll go stop him from setting the kitchen on fire... Again**

 **LucarioKid: Get the pepper spray.**

 **Owain: On it.**

 **LucarioKid: Well... That was Cain. He's... I don't know. He's supposed to be a Vampire, but Satan would be more accurate. Anyways, let's start, before he comes back. I just hope Owain can hold him.**

 _ **BOOM!**_

 **LucarioKid: Nope. You guys read, I have to deal with some bat infestations. Where's my tome? There it is. Cain you better pick a God and pray you Fuck-Mothering Vampire!**

 **Cain: Fus Ro Dah!**

Desmond stood looking over the plains of Primordia. It was great to finally be back and in the field. Sure he didn't have a Skell, but Lin was making him one that she said would be far superior to the others. In fact, she was in charge of designing new Skells for his whole team. Apparently Vandham thought it'd be good to arm the team tasked with hunting the newly named Telethia with the best equipment possible. Desmond couldn't agree more. It was weird though, his new uniform and look.

Unlike the normal BLADE armor and weapons he had been given things more suited to his cybernetic body. But he couldn't argue against the new things his great sword could do. And the gun was certainly nicer than his old one. His armor was less armor, and more a black jacket with a similarly colored cloak over the top that had a hood attached to it. His pants were grey combat pants with multiple belts and pockets for storing ammo and anything else he would need in the field. He wore black gloves to hide his cybernetic arms.

He found it weird how his new limbs looked, and was trying to hide them until he was more used to them himself. His boots were grey with black rubber on the bottom that had a design that was supposed to help with keeping a good footing. Thought Desmond personally believed people were either naturally clumsy or had good footwork. He came to the conclusion long ago that he was right in the middle.

On his back with the handle by his right shoulder was his great sword. The light grey metal curved sharply and smoothly along the sheath. Thought the sheath was rigid and very robotic in design. The weird part was that the sheath also looked like a sword. While his regular sword was huge, the sheath was enormous.

On his left shoulder sat his black fully automatic rifle, but was strange in how it worked. When drawn the sides would open, almost like a crossbow. When he pulled back the action on the right side and held it the trigger would change what it would do. Once he did that, when he held the trigger the sides would fold in and the power in the gun would focus through some special type of new machine and laser development from the outfitters so when he released the trigger it would fire a large beam of energy at his enemies. On his waist resting calmly he had a semi-automatic pistol. Not very much, but better than nothing if her somehow lost his weapons.

He watched over his team in the distance, making sure everything was going to plan. They were to set a trap for a large Tyrant in the area that had been causing problems for others BLADE's in the area. It was a very large Simius that had been getting a little to close to the city for Vandham's liking. So he sent them to take care of it as their first team mission.

He could see how his team was doing by their body language. Luna was perfectly fine, her head always slightly bent so she could hear everything around her. Her clothing was a red leather jacket that hung very close to her womanly figure, light shimmering on it every now and then. Her hair still in it's iconic pony-tail, resting behind her, but swishing every now and then as she turned her head. Her pants were almost a white grey pants that like her jacket hung close to her body.

Her melee weapon was a beam sword that had a red beam that curved slightly. Her ranged weapon was a sniper rifle with armor piercing round, perfect for damaging powerful enemies like they would be facing. Sleek black with red highlights along it that pulsed every now and then. Like his gun, hers could shoot beams of energy, but took much longer to charge up. Her boots were black combat boots like what most every BLADE except for a few would wear. She didn't wear gloves, but she had a ring with a red gem stone on her right hand on her ring finger. She wouldn't talked about it, even when Jason asked. Being reminded of the PathFinder caused Desmond to change his focus to the left of her.

Jason was about the same as Luna with scanning the environment, but was mostly using his eyes, giving cautionary glances around him, though they were mostly directed to the sky. He noticed Jason was very close to the ground at all times, seeming to disappear into nature. It certainly helped he had a camouflaged coat on him. The coat was almost a trench coat, bullet bandoliers around it and a leather strap on the right shoulder. The leather was black and smooth, a strange contrast to the green, bush like coat. He was lucky he had dark hair or hiding as effectively as he did would have been much harder. His black hair short and spiked, seeming to match perfectly with dirt or mud. Sometimes they would even find sticks in it. Certainly normal compared to the time they found a large beetle in his hair.

His pants were dark brown combats pants with multiple straps along them that held only what Desmond guessed was provisions and ammo. But he had learned that with Jason, nothing was set and stone. The man was like water, always moving and changing, keeping people on guard. To say he was an interesting man would be an understatement. He was very unique. His weapons were a large mini-gun and a Riot Shield. Though his shield was modified to be able to change from defensive mode to offensive mode. The corners of the shield would fold in on themselves and it would form a sword, though it was wrapped to his arm and not held in his hand.

When Jason had told him he was the weapons specialist he wasn't lying. He was able to shot any type of gun, perfectly accurate, quickly and reload even faster. Desmond had been deeply impressed when Jason was in the Range with a pistol he had never used before. He had fired, getting a perfect head shot right in the middle. Then he fired several more bullets in quick succession, all of them stacking up perfectly where the first shot had struck. Desmond had never seen someone do something like that, and made him realize just how useful both Jason and Luna were. There was a gasp of surprise, causing everyone to go for their weapons. Desmond looked over to see Mitch eyeing an Ovis like it was going to charge and kill him. Jason merely snickered while Luna shook her head and went back to her task. Desmond couldn't stop the frown on his face. Then there was Mitch.

He knew the medic was going to be a weak link just by how he talked. But now he was shocked Vandham had even thought this man would be a good choice for their team. He was terrified of everything, making seem as if he had never left the safe confines of the city on his life. He was certainly a skilled medic. The best Desmond had ever seen, which only made more sense when he found out Mitch was one of the lead doctors responsible for saving his life. If had given him a silent respect for the medic.

His weapons were not very impressive to say the least. He had large ones but he preferred the other ones since they were smaller and much easier to use. He had a long sword and an auto rifle, but he preferred his pistol and large dagger. Mitch's brown hair was slightly long, the bangs hanging down in front of his face. He had hair that could best be described as bed head. Which was fitting seeing as the medic hated waking up in the morning. But he would comply with every order and as long as it wasn't combat related her would complete it with flying colors. He was efficient, tactile and had a good head on his shoulders. He preferred avoiding combat, instead finding a middle ground or going around something dangerous.

He wore a large grey jacket with light green sleeves, the medic symbol for the BLADE's on his back. He had a satchel that reminded Desmond of that movie with the adventurer with the whip, though he couldn't place the name of him for some reason. In the satchel was every medicine known to man with alcohol for cleaning wounds, stitches, gauze, and multiple needles. He prized that satchel closely, once telling Desmond it had been a gift from his mother when he left for medical school after High School. He had never parted with it. He reluctantly told him his mother had died of cancer a year later.

His pants were black jeans with some smaller pouches strapped on, probably holding more medicine. He had told them he was good with explosive, ironic for his position, but he was actually quite deadly with them. He had placed a grenade launcher on the underside of his machine gun (Even if he never used it) and had three packs of C4 in his coat pocket. He was currently setting up an ambush zone with the C4, but was too antsy and unfocused to be efficient with his time. Desmond sighed, heading towards them from his look out point. While Jason was setting up natural traps that would be used to knock a few of the beast's arms out of commission, Luna was studying the landscape, working with Jason on where to place them. She most certainly was a tactical genius, and Desmond had learned early on never to play any type of game with her. Especially Chess.

He gave a pat to Jason's back, nodding to him as he tied the knots to whatever his device was. He gave a similar nod to Luna, the Interceptor returning it. While they didn't classify as that anymore, it was still easier to call them by their old titles. They hadn't managed to get Mitch's out of him for some reason. Jason had joked that he was an Outfitter and had blown himself up and that's why he became a medic. It had been funny, but they couldn't get the answer out of him. They were all equals, so it wasn't like Desmond could just order him. Sure, he led the team, but they were equal. He just took the team missions and went to the occasional leader's meetings.

He came behind Mitch, clearing his throat softly. The medic panicked where he was knelt down with his C4 and fell over, letting out a gasp as he did. Desmond had no words at that point, merely helping him up. Mitch had his head down in embarrassment, his hands shaking.

"What's wrong with you?" Mitch started to speak, but whenever he tried it died in his throat. Desmond slightly shook him.

"Stay focused. We need you and according to the patterns we got from the Harriers that were tracking it. it's going to be here soon. We need that C4 up and running." Mitch shakily nodded his head, kneeling back down and placing the C4 once more, though he was more calm, his eyes seeming to be focused on an invisible prize. Desmond smirked. That was the Mitch he had learned about. He went back to Luna and crossed his arms over his chest.

"How much longer?" She looked at her watch, then briefly to Jason.

"A few more minutes. Then we'll help Mitch with the C...4? He's on fire." They looked back to see him quickly arming the explosives, seeming to be in a trance.

"Whatever you said to him, do it more often." Desmond chuckled, looking around. A bright blue day with very few, tiny white clouds that were lazily flittering through the sky.

"Roger that." He looked back, seeing Jason stand and wipe his hands free of dirt.

"I'm done here."

"Same, Sir." Mitch was saluting behind him. Desmond pushed his hand down.

"You don't have to do that, man." Mitch's eyes looked around before he chuckled.

"Ya. Sorry. Now what?" Luna pointed to a small ridge only five to ten feet from their traps.

"We wait, and if the Intel if correct then the Simius will be passing through here in a few minutes to an hour." Desmond nodded to her and pointed to the ridge.

"You heard her, let's go." They trekked up the small ridge, getting behind the rocks that adorned the top. Jason was practically one of the rocks as he waited on the top, eyes looking everywhere. Mitch pulled out his comms device and started to read files on something. Luna was using hers to play out scenarios and strategies. Desmond waited with Jason, the two Hunters watching for any movement.

Desmond watched as Jason pulled out a small pocket watch, a face in the upper part as he flipped it open. It was a women, but she looked young and just like him. Desmond pointed to it, hoping he wasn't wading into dangerous territory.

"Who's she?" Jason showed the pocket watch, giving a smile.

"Sister. She was on one of the other ships. I hope that hers made it out of the battle, but as far as we know, ours was the only one from America that made it. But she was living in France, our original home." That explained why Jason had slightly foreign looking skin. He was from France. Desmond had been born in Boston, lived their his whole life, when he wasn't around the world touring with his cousin.

Then they had packed onto the ships and left Earth. Now they were all from the same place, a forgotten planet. Desmond smiled to him, hoping for the best.

"I'm sure some other ships made it out. We had launched dozens of the things. I doubt we were the only one to make it out. I have faith that one day we'll run into the others." Jason smiled, looking closely at the watch. He placed it back in his coat packet carefully.

"I make sure to keep that watch close. It was a gift from her when I left for America. I put her picture in it once we left Earth. I only had one picture of her so I made sure to put it in there. Mother died while we were young and father was never in the picture. You?" Desmond chuckled.

"Mother was super protective, like, wrapping us up in Styrofoam whenever we left the house protective. Didn't help that dad was a lazy, pissed drunk. Spent most of my time with my cousin. I even called him sir back then because of all the war games we played. Signed up together, served together until he got promoted to a higher rank. I didn't care. Personlally, I prefer the dirty work in the field to the desk work. Not my cup of coffee." Jason chuckled, moving so he was laying on his back, hands behind his head.

"I hear you, brother. But, we all need each other now." Desmond nodded grimly.

"Even the bums." He saw something red in the distance, patting Jason excitedly. The PathFinder rolled to his chest and looked forward. From the tree line a massive Simius walked out, a dead Ovis in one of it's four hands. They carefully got off the rock, warning the other two. Luna was already telling them what to do.

"Jason, move to those trees on the other side of the trail. Me and Mitch are staying here." Desmond was confused when she didn't tell him what to do.

"What about me?" She smiled, pointing to the middle of the road.

"You're the bait, Sir." Desmond looked to Jason, the Frenchman smiling.

"Dirty work, Sir." Desmond gave him the bird, starting to walk out into the open.

"Take a stick from your hair and shove it up your ass." Jason shook his head, disappearing into the brush to head to his spot. Desmond waited until Jason was ready, then moved to the open. He had a hand to his ear piece.

"Ok, Luna. I piss it off, run back, then what?"

"We make our stand. Jason's traps won't kill it, but they will immobilize it long enough for us to get some powerful hits in. If all else fails we use Mitch's C4. Understood?" Desmond sighed, hating his new job immensely at that moment.

"Copy that. Everyone ready?" He got three positive responses, meaning they were green light." Desmond pulled out his side arm, just needing to get it to charge him, not to hurt it. He aimed the sights on the head, pulling in a breath and letting half of it out, just like he was taught. He pulled the trigger, surprised when the bullet managed to strike the right eye of the Simius.

"No way." The beast roared in pain, then settled it's left eye on Desmond.

"Crap." It started to roar, pounding its chest and then charging him.

"Run!" He turned, kicking up dust as he sprinted towards the traps.

"I'm going!" He turned, seeing the Simius almost on top of him. He dove, avoiding one of the fists as it struck the ground, right where the trap was. Ropes shot out, tying the hands to the ground as well as the feet, causing the monster to fall to it's chest while its arms were by its side. The head was wide open. Desmond stood, drawing his great sword, then watched as Jason leapt from the tree line, stabbing the point of his riot-sword into the neck of the Simius.

It started to roar, ripping some of the ropes that held it down. Desmond got a good slash on the other side of the neck, then saw the ropes snap. Him and Jason jumped back to avoid the flailing hands from the freed Simius. They started to run again, heading to the next trap.

the Simius stood, and started to charge them again. They could see large amounts of blood dripping from the wounds on its neck. They went around the next trap, waiting for their prey to hit the trap. When it hit the trap this one was different. It was a hole, but as the Simius fell, the hole collapsed on itself and trapped the arms under rock and sand.

"Where did you learn how to do this!?" Jason only laughed, using his mini-gun to rip into the head of the Simius. They would have got in closer, but the final trap was much further away. Desmond fired until his gun signaled empty with a click. Then he pulled back the action, holding down the trigger as power built.

He released, the red beam screaming through the air and slicing into the head of the Simius. It was in true pain now, but still kept fighting. It dug out of the hole, running at them, not bothering with fancy roars and taunts. The duo ran to the final trap where they saw Luna aiming her sniper. She fired, the round ripping into the head of the Simius. It staggered slightly, its vision fading. Still, it lumbered forward.

They reached the final trap, the Simius coming still. They jumped back as the trap triggered. Large trees, had ropes spring up between them, catching the limbs of the Simius and tripping it and keeping it in place. They stopped, rushing back and drawing their melee weapons. Desmond jumped off the tree to his right, flying onto the back of the Simius and stabbing his sword deep into it.

Jason was busy stabbing into the exposed chest, giving it everything he had. Luna fired into the head repeatedly, then shouted for them to get out of the way.

"Move you two!" They did as she said, moving away from the Simius. She charged her shot as it began to free itself. Right when it had torn the final rope off, there was a high pitched screech that tore through the air. Her beam arced through the sky quickly, slamming into the Simius and causing an explosion to cover the area around it in dust. Jason and Desmond retreated to the others, Jason's weapon in Shield mode. Desmond had his sword waiting in his right hand.

The dust flew away, leaving a very pissed Simius. Jason groaned loudly.

"Oh come on!" It charged forward, Luna holding her hand up.

"Wait for my signal, Mitch!" He was shaking like a blade of grass in the wind.

"We need to blow it up!"

"Not yet!" Mitch was panicking now.

"We're gonna die!"

"Hold!" He disobeyed, pressing the detonator. The Simius was coated in the explosion, but not killed. Then something strange happened, the ground where it was going to be caved in on itself and sunk everything in that area.

"You idiot! We were going to bury it!" Mitch was on the verge of a panic attack by this point. Desmond saw it was retaliating. It picked up a huge boulder, lifting it over its shoulders.

"Guys! Move!" They all dove off the rock they were on, the rocks colliding and exploding into thousands of pieces. Desmond recovered quickly, making ready to defend his team. The Simius charged them, when bullets tore into its chest and head. Desmond saw Jason firing at it quickly. Then a sniper round cracked out, hitting the head. More bullets came from his right, where Mitch probably was. Desmond had a plan, but it was dumb.

"Keep it busy!" He saw a large rock behind the Simius, and he realized he could climb on from there. He circled around, the Simius was confused by the bullets hitting him from seemingly everywhere at once. Desmond reached the rock, slipping his sword into the sheathe and hitting a small button on the sheathe. There was a hiss and the sheathe attached to the sword, becoming an even bigger sword.

He lifted the massive sword off his back, jumping off the rock and into the air. He had to admit, having these cybernetic enhancements were very useful. He held the sword backwards, landing on the back and forcing the blade through the thick fur. He felt the blade hit something hard, and realized it was the spine. He pushed down hard, trying not to get thrown by the thrashing beast.

He felt the beast go limp when his sword slipped through easily. He pulled back, a loud crack coming out from the back of the beast, signaling a broken back. Desmond jumped off, moving towards the head as his team watched. He lifted the large sword above his head when he reached the head of the Simius. He dropped it, ending the suffering of the beast. He put the sheathe sword on his back, pressing the button to disconnect them again.

He glared over at Mitch, who had his head shamefully lowered, and rightfully so. He had almost cost his team their lives. on their first mission, no less. Desmond angrily strode up to him, grabbing his collar and lifting him up.

"What the hell were you thinking!? When a team member asks you to listen to them and keep everyone safe you listen, dammit!" He shook Mitch, the medic whimpering.

"I'm sorry! I don't have the experience you do! It's not my fault I'm a Mediator!" Desmond dropped him, the now labeled Mediator falling to his rear, his teeth clenched.

"You're a what?" Mitch looked up to him, sorrow in his eyes.

"I'm a Mediator, Sir. I've stepped outside the city only twice, and today was the second time. I've never been in actually combat until today." Desmond placed a hand over his chin, turning away. Why would Vandham put someone who has never seen combat on his team? Especially with what they were doing. Desmond faced him again, motioning him to stand.

"Get back to the city. You're going to get transferred back to your old unit. At this rate, you'll just get someone killed." Mitch complied, making the short trek back to the city. Desmond faced the other two, different faces on them. Luna was slight sadness, while Jason's was almost like betrayal. Desmond sighed, running a hand through his white hair.

"Come on. Let's head back. God only knows he can't defend himself. I just don't want to kill him by accident." To say Desmond was pissed would be an understatement. He was enraged. First mission, and they had pulled it out through pure luck, and luck alone. But he knew luck couldn't last forever, especially with his.

when they returned to the city the first thing he did was head to BLADE Tower with his team, Mitch already there. When they entered Mitch was already seated on a chair, still looking at the ground. Vandham was already there.

"I heard what happened. Sorry about this, but he wasn't my idea." Desmond's anger didn't vanish, it just moved somewhere else, though it hadn't settled. At least, not yet.

"Who put him in our Division?"

"That would be me." They turned, seeing none other than the Director General. Now Desmond's anger had a target. He walked up to the Director, very close to punching him in the face.

"Let me get this straight, _Director._ You knew exactly what we would be doing, and you went ahead and put someone with no experience who would crack under pressure on our team, where the odds of him getting someone killed were extremely high? I just want to make sure it was you." He nodded, then frowned.

"Yes, I thought it would be a good learning experience for him." Jason started to laugh hysterically, in fact, he was doubled over laughing.

"Is this Pencil Necked Idiot for real, Vandham!?" Vandham looked to the PathFinder, an annoyed look in his eyes. Not for Jason's actions, but rather for the Director General's.

"Unfortunately." Desmond glared daggers at the man they were supposed to listen to.

"Now then, _Sir,"_ He spat out the word with venom more poisonous than the kind the Telethia put in him.

"I request a change of squad members, before he gets someone killed."

"Denied." Desmond really had to keep his cool now.

"Why not?" The Director shook his head.

"For all we know, it could simply be your bad judgement that caused things to go so badly. Which is why you're lucky I don't take you out and-" He never finished, because Desmond followed up on what he wanted to do the moment the man spoke. The Director General was now on the floor, rubbing his jaw in pain.

"You think you have any room to tell me and the team members who were doing their jobs correctly that it's because of us things went so badly!? Are you shitting me!?" Vandham pulled back the angry cyborg, trying to make sure he wouldn't kill the Director General, as pleasing as that sounded.

"Well then soldier, that sounds like you want a nice punishment for those actions!" Before things could escalate more, Mitch got in between them, his voice no linger timid and worried.

"Listen up! If you're going to act like little children, the go back to the first grade! We have to work together to survive! And if that means placing me on a different team to keep others safe than so do it! So, Director General, I ask that you stop being a self absorbed asshat!" Jason snickered, Vandham soon joining him. Mitch then looked to Desmond, a glare that was new for him to see in he reserved medic.

"As for you! Cut me some slack! I'm 100 percent certain that on your first mission, against normal people and not giant angry monsters, you didn't do so good! I'm not asking to be pardoned for my actions, but I ask that you calm down! Whatever happens to me, I want to be in a place where I will serve NLA and the last of Humanity in the best way possible! Am I clear!?" Everyone, even Vandham and the Director General replied with, "Yes, Sir!"

"Good!" Everyone looked between each other before Jason and Luna pulled Desmond aside, whispering to him. Vandham was next to Mitch, chuckling and smiling at him.

"Well, done." Mitch shyly smiled, scratching his head.

"Well, when you have to deal with people fighting over nothing, you get pretty good at breaking them up." Desmond and the others came back, facing them. Desmond cleared his throat.

"I'd like to apologize to you, Mitch. You were trying your best in a situation you were new to. But with how you are in your state, you'd only get someone killed." Mitch looked down, disappointed, but he understood.

"Which is why we would like to take on to teaching you how to become a better BLADE, so when we go and hunt large Tyrants again, you'll be ready. Sound good?" Mitch smiled to them, then shook his head excitedly.

"Yes, Sir! I won't let you down, Sir!" Vandham turned to Desmond, giving his cousin a secretive thumbs up. Desmond returned one, smiling slightly. The Director General cleared his throat.

"Under normal circumstances, I would have thrown you in the brig. But you are a special lot, with a special mission. One that nobody else can take up. So, I will not punish you for your actions this time. However, next time I will not be so lenient. Am I understood, Lieutenant?" Desmond smirked at his old rank in the army.

"Yes, Sir." The Director General rubbed his chin, smirking.

"Might I say, you have a strong right hook." Desmond pointed to his cousin.

"Learned from the biggest scrapper in Boston." Vandham shook his head.

"I wasn't the best, but you can damn bet your ass I could knock the hell out of most everyone I met!" Desmond chuckled, then shook his head in confusion.

"How come you reached a higher rank than me?" Vandham crossed his arms, a cocky smirk showing on his face.

"Because I didn't go punching my superiors." Desmond immediately got a large frown.

"That is a load of horse shit and you know it! I've punched three, you've punched like twenty!" Vandham waved his arms in annoyance.

"Bah! Get outta here before I make you run all the way to the end of Oblivia and back!" Desmond chuckled, leaving with his team, Mitch included. The Director General turned to Vandham, a large smirk working onto his face.

"Twenty Superiors and you made it to Commander?" Vandham coughed into his fist quietly.

"Heh, grunts these days."

"Last I checked, your cousin is no grunt. He can most certainly handle himself." Vandham chuckled, looking to where his cousin had departed to.

"Ya, I know. He's been through a lot."

"We all have, Commander. We all have."

"I just hope it gets a little easier, each day that goes by." They heard foot steps, seeing Nagi walk in, a smile on his face too.

"I just heard an interesting tale from Kristy about how you have punched twenty of your superiors, Vandham. why am I not surprised?" The Commander shook his head, letting out a loud groan.

"That's going to come back to bite me in the ass so hard."

 **Hope you all enjoyed this. This story will be about Desmond, don't get me wrong, but his team is just as important. So don't worry about not learning about them too. You will get to know them all pretty well. I was actually playing Chronicles X and brainstorming for this at the same time. Right when I was thinking about where I wanted to final showdown with Telethia to be, I actually found its roost.**

 **So, I know exactly where they're fighting the big behemoth. If you want to see what it looks like then go to Noctilum and head as far north as you can until you reach the waterfall with the red roots by it. (You need a Skell with the flight pack to get there, I think. I didn't see any ways to do it on foot.) Then go up the falls and you will have reached the Divine Roost. There is a level 60 something Leviathan Tyrant roaming around the roots, flying like Leviathans do.**

 **Look up, and keep your eyes peeled to the sky, and don't go too high. Every now and then, a black silhouette will scream across the sky, yellow spines along its body and trailing behind it. That, is the Telethia. If you watch fights on YouTube (I'm nowhere near level 99 yet.) After fighting it a bit, it actually lands down in the infected looking water and you fight it there. It's amazingly cool looking.**

 **I already have some cool plans for the fight against the big bastard. But, you'll have to be patient. Good things come to those who wait. I promise, they do. Anywho, keep calm and may the Aura be with you! Another shoutout to The Rose Duelist! Stay thirsty my friends. If you don't get that reference then you are dead to me. Peace!**


	3. Training a Medic

**So this chapter will be mostly focusing on our residential medic Mitch. It will take place a couple weeks after the last chapter, just so you know. Now, in terms of where Elma and her team Lin and Cross are, Cross is going to be found sometime during this chapter, setting into motion the events of the game. You may have noticed I put Celica's name on the story. Well, you'll see why, not this chapter, but most likely next chapter, or maybe even the one after. She will become pretty important later on. I know she's supposed to work with Elma and Cross and all that, but technically she is more of a solo unit and just helps them. Same will be said for Division Ten.**

 **Anywho, hope this makes some things more clear, but if you have questions then feel free to ask them. I have one week left of school and then I'll be able to work on this a lot more. Also, I beat the story for Chronicles X, and it was amazing and left me with more questions than answers. Also! I got my Skell the coolest fucking weapons ever!**

 **I have a two handed death laser sword that hits everyone around me, and then I was looking through my inventory for another weapon because my Skell is melee focused and for some reason I had like 4 of my arts being ranged arts. (Good job me...) So I went a found a weapon I had not expected to see.**

 **A FUCK MOTHERING SCYTHE! I have a fucking scythe on my Skell and it is a beam scythe and is fucking OP as shit! I haven't even upgraded it and it tore up the final boss like Swiss Cheese! I was so fucking Triggered! Ugghh! I love it! Now then, when the members of Division Ten get their Skells (Luna has hers but she's not using it right now) I'll explain their weapons and armor and what they can do.**

 **Keep in mind, there Skells are going to be designed to be the best of the best (Except for the Ares models since those are Bullshit to the highest degree) so they will be capable of doing different things. Especially Desmond's Skell, since he's human and will get a cool feature on his Skell. You'll like it. Now then, I've talked enough. Let's go.**

Mitch wasn't a morning person, so the fact that he had cold water thrown on his head at four in the morning, was thrown out into the freezing morning and told to run five miles was not his idea of an ideal morning. On the bright side, he was able to be out in the opens of Primordia without too much fear of Indigens. Fighting them was something he didn't enjoy, but he loved the world they now inhabited. Then he heard a shrill shriek. He turned to see several small Blattas rushing him. He wanted to run, but than decided to belay that.

He drew his assault rifle and began to fire multiple shots at them. He saw two drop quickly, but the biggest hardly seemed fazed. He aimed in front of them, letting his grenade fly from the launcher. It hit them perfectly, sending legs and tattered wing pieces into the air. The big one was still alive however. He drew his knife, rushing and stabbing into the head, giving a firm twist. He stood, straight up, backing away from the deceased Blatta, a shaky grin on his face.

"I-I actually did that!" Then he heard the roar behind him. He slowly turned, seeing a Grex pawing it's way towards him. He chucked uneasily, backing away slowly.

"H-hey buddy. If you look the other way I may have a dog treat or two." The Grex only growled viciously.

"Or not." Mitch drew his long sword, still not use to the larger weapons. He would have used his dagger, but knew it wouldn't pierce the hide of the Grex even if he wanted it to. He held in front of him defensively while the Grex circled him. He had been training with Desmond for a few weeks on how to use swords, since the last human had one, albeit a big ass one, it was a sword. He learned to only really attack when given the chance, since their weapons were slower than most. The only slower weapons were the shields, which Mitch doubted since Jason was capable of swinging his at near blinding speeds. But that had been in OverDrive. Mitch knew Desmond didn't have one, being human and all, but he certainly wasn't pushing his body to it's limits like most would.

He shook his head, refocusing on the Grex. He took in a breath and let one out. When the Grex rushed him he rolled to the side, giving a side slash when he stood. The Grex recovered faster than he expected, slicing his chest and pushing him back. He blocked the next slash with the flat end of his sword. He directed the claw to the opposite side, causing the Grex to fumble over its feet, falling to its chest.

Mitch quickly slashed the head, getting a deep cut on the head. He was only focusing on the head, missing the tail as it stabbed his lower abdomen and pushed him back. He swung sporadically and in a panic, but managed to slice a good majority of the tail. It was only attached by a few tendons and muscle, but Mitch knew he was bleeding profusely. He needed to finish this and attend his injuries, lest they get worse or he suffer more.

He decided he was going to be gutsy, something they all stressed he would have to in last ditch situations. He jumped up, clearly surprising the Grex, and stabbing down. He barely clipped the shoulder as it jumped back. He quickly rolled to his left, the Grex rushing towards where he was with it's shoulder in a slam attack. Mitch changed to his machine gun, firing into the exposed flank as it fumbled to face him again. Once it turned he switched back to his sword. This time he waited, deciding he needed to play offensive.

When the Grex moved, it tried to pounce on him and grab him in its mouth, he ducked under it, stabbing his sword into the neck of the Grex. It kept flying past with its momentum, the sword slicing through the rest of the body before exiting around the pelvis. The Grex fell to the ground with a squelch as its insides leaked out, staining the ground. Mitch drew his pistol, moving to the head of the barely alive Grex. He aimed his pistol in between the eyes and put it out of its misery. He holstered his pistol before looking at his sword, now stained crimson.

He had beat a Grex. Without his team. He smiled, then clutched his side at the burst of pain. He sheathed his sword, going to one of him many pouches and grabbing stitches and gauze. He held them in his right while he grabbed the cleaning alcohol and poured it in the wound. He winced in pain, hating that he couldn't turn off his pain receptors. Only certain BLADE's had access to other people's Mims, let alone their own.

He put the bottle away once he was finished, quickly stitching the wound together and then wrapping it with gauze. When he was finished he sighed in relief, deciding he had a good reason to cut him five miles at three and a half. He just hoped the others would be proud of him. He lightly limped his way back the short distance to the city, hoping nothing smelled the blood of the Grex and came after him while he was injured.

When he entered he was greeted by his team, smiles on their faces. He pointed at Desmond, his leader with his hands in his coat pocket.

"You set that up somehow didn't you?" Desmond only nodded.

"We had been getting reports of a dangerous Grex right outside the city. What better way to test your skill than to throw you at a Tyrant Grex." Mitch smiled widely. He had not only killed a Grex, but it had been a Tyrant too. Then he frowned.

"What if I had died?" Luna shook her head at him.

"We were watching you from a distance. We were about to aid you, but Desmond held me back and said to wait. If you want to get mad at anyone for not interfering, get mad at him." Mitch turned to his leader. The former Harrier chuckled.

"I had faith. Plus, you have much better luck than me, Rookie. I would have had something either break on me, or seven more would have appeared. So I had faith in you." Mitch smiled to him, giving a thumbs up.

"Thanks for letting me prove myself, Sir." Desmond smirked, starting to walk away when he looked over his shoulder.

"The pleasure was all mine, Mitch. Keep it up. Oh, you may want to head to the Mim center. I'm not medic, but that tail seemed to have gotten you pretty good." Mitch nodded, snapping a salute, doing it a little to fast and wincing in pain as his side cried out.

"Yes, Sir-Ow!" Desmond chuckled as he walked away.

"He's got potential. A Hell of a lot of potential. Hopefully he awakens it before we find that Telethia." Mitch had only heard him murmur, and hoped it wasn't anything condescending. He hobbled the short distance to the Mim center, thanking God he had left through the exit in the Administrative District and not by the Industrial.

* * *

Mitch stretched to his left, not feeling any pain or weirdness from his body. He smiled, glad the repairs had gone according to plans. He headed to the barracks, deciding a nap sounded nice after his rude awakening and run in with the Grex Tyrant. Then he saw Elma, the one who had originally brought him back to the city when she found his pod. He waved to her, running up excitedly.

"Elma! Did you hear what I did today!?" She smiled at him, walking up, the man behind her following like a puppy.

"I didn't. What happened? Save another life?"

"Far from it! I killed a Tyrant Grex by myself!" Elma got a look of shock on her face.

"I heard about that. That was you?" He nodded, putting his hands behind his back shyly. He would never admit it openly, but she was his hero. Brave and selfless, with a drive that made her have an air of power.

"Yup! Pretty soon I'll be able to head out with my team on missions!" She smiled at him, patting his shoulder.

"Good job, Mitch. I'm proud of you. Don't really see Mediators going out into the field. Should be an interesting addition." She chuckled uneasily.

"I'm not really a Mediator anymore. Ya know? I had my division changed." She nodded in understanding.

"I see. What division are you now? Harriers? Interceptors?" He shook his head slowly.

"Umm... I'm not really allowed to tell anyone." She rubbed her chin in thought before smiling.

"You're part of the Division Vandham and Nagi created. Division Ten right?" Mitch was shocked she knew, then realized it was Elma he was talking about. She seemed to know everything.

"Ya, that's the one. My team is pretty cool. There's Jason. He's pretty funny to be around, but he likes fighting a bit too much. Luna is really smart, but doesn't really interact that much. Then there's Desmond. He can be pretty cranky sometimes, but he's cool." Elma cocked her head at the name.

"Desmond Vandham? The cousin of the Commander?" He nodded, pointing at her in confirmation.

"That's the one." She sighed.

"Why am I not surprised. He was always a magnet for trouble. What with him not having a Mim and all. What is it his cousin says to him? 'You have the Devil's own luck?'" Mitch nodded, laughing slightly.

"That's right. And he does too. We were rock climbing to get to place a FrontierNav point and the pieces he grabbed kept breaking and he kept falling to the bottom. It was pretty comedic. He practically stripped the cliff face flat." Elma chuckled, definitely knowing that such things would happen to Desmond, and most certainly did quite frequently. Then she felt a tap to her shoulder, seeing the person behind her.

"Oh, my bad. Here I was reminiscing and I forgot about you. Mitch, I'd like you to meet Cross. He's the most recent person we've found out in the wilderness. He doesn't remember much, but maybe you know some things about him?" Mitch looked at him, the man a complete mystery to him.

"Never seen him before in my life. Sorry, Elma." Cross frowned, running a hand through his black hair. It was spiked into a slight fauxhawk and was short otherwise. He had deathly pale skin that reminded Mitch of Desmond. He was almost curious if they had both come in contact with the Telethia, until he saw Cross had green eyes, unlike Desmond's pale yellow. Then he got curious.

"How do you know Desmond?" Elma paled, looking down.

"He knows some of my secrets. Only a few people know of them, and for good reason. He's one of the few who knows." Mitch was curious what that meant, but decided she would tell her secret if she wanted. There was the sound of someone clearing their throat to Mitch's left. They turned to see none other than Desmond, his arms crossed and a playful smirk on his face.

"Hey Elma. You're not looking so pale. That's always good, eh?" She looked down, actually blushing at his comment. Mitch wanted to know why.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Desmond ruffed his hair, slightly pushing him away.

"When you're older." Mitch growled slightly. Desmond returned his attention to Elma, then eyed Cross.

"Still finding people, eh? Why does that not surprise me." He smiled at Elma.

"How you been, Elma?" She smiled at him, having recovered from earlier blunders.

"Better. And you?" He pulled up his sleeves, revealing his grey cybernetic attachments.

"Could be better." Elma winced slightly.

"I remember hearing Vandham talk about that. I'm so sorry. You're not even a Mim, and now you have to live with that forever." Desmond shrugged, pulling the sleeves back down.

"At least I am living, and not stuck in some Mim, hiding myself." Elma looked down, Mitch not sure if in shame or embarrassment. But from what? She stood, placing her hands on her hips. She smiled, laughing before walking past them.

"Nice having another verbal debate with you again, Desmond. I see you've been keeping your tongue sharp." Desmond slouched slightly, trying not to laugh out loud.

"Yours seems to have gone dull, Elma. Maybe you should have more conversations with Lin and keep it sharp. That girl is quick on her toes, metaphorically and literally." Elma shook her head and laughed.

"You have no idea." She looked back to Desmond, Mitch barely catching as she nodded and her eyes flashed a gorgeous vibrant purple. Desmond smirked.

"Feisty are we?" She gave a slight grin as she turned.

"Only to you."

"Guess you haven't dulled out completely. Still, best head to the sharpener."

"You first, grunt." Desmond waved her off, not having anything to follow up with. Mitch heard him mutter something under his breath that ended with, "... Stuck up." Mitch smiled, glad his hero managed to make a comeback against his leader. Desmond turned to Mitch, motioning the Medic to follow him.

"Where are we going?"

"Running." Mitch gave a confused glare.

"I still don't get the point of doing that if our Mims don't get stronger." Desmond smirked.

"Mine will, and strength in numbers. Besides, it'll teach you to pace yourself, buddy. Now come on." Mitch groaned, following his leader to the edge of the city, where they began their run. He only hoped it wouldn't be more than ten miles like it had been the previous time.

"How many miles?"

"More than one, less than twenty."

"I hate you."

"Good."

* * *

She walked silently, still enraged over what had occurred. She knew they had to, but she didn't WANT to. She had to respect the choices of her prince, but she didn't want to bow down to those... Beasts. She soon found herself out in the openness of the night sky, the wind blowing her silvery white hair across her eyes. She lowered her mask, looking into the water by the creek and seeing her reflection. The reflection of one who should have been dead, but instead was marked as such.

The small patch of life where her mask had been, looked so vibrant compared to the dead white around it. Then she looked at her eyes. The same pale yellow she had gotten used to, and tolerated, but was a constant reminder of her failure to protect her family. She clenched her fists, looking up at the sky. She almost half expected to see the yellow markings of the monster, almost wanting it to come back and finish what it had started. But she calmed herself, praying to her ancestors and letting out a stressed breath.

Her people were going to die if nothing was going to be done. While she wanted him to stand up, she knew that would also lead to the death of her people. They were trapped, and on either side they were eventually going to die. She almost felt like crying, but sucked in her emotions as she always had. She pulled back up her mask, the full persona of death being recreated. She then turned back to where her people hid. She only knew that she could serve her prince until the very end, keeping him and her people alive. Even if it meant doing something insane. Then she chuckled to herself.

"What's the worst that could happen? I become friends with a human robot?" Then she bit her tongue. Her prince had always said she had the Devil's own luck. And neither was he wrong.

 **Hmmmmm... HMMMMMMMMM! Wonder what that was all about, eh? Now then, sorry for the shorter chapter, but it was the best I could do with how busy I am and whatnot. Remember, if you have a question here's what you do. Write it in either the review box, or go to my profile, click on PM. Write your question in the big box there, and then hit the send button. Whoa! Magic, right? Also! More shout outage to The Rose Duelist. Rose, where's my next chapter of The Restoration? I need it!**

 **Anywho, keep calm and may the Aura be with you! Ta Da!**


	4. A New Menace

**First and foremost, this goes to Char and your wonderings about Mitch and his Mim. He can toggle with other people's Mim's pain receptors (Among other important things), but not his own, for safety reasons. They don't want him getting all suicidal (Not that he would, but this is a worst case scenario) and practically shutting down/destroying his Mim from the inside out. Mim's are pretty damned tough, as I'm sure you know, seeing as Cross took a fucking mega canon to the arm/entire upper torso and didn't get disintegrated or blown into meaty chunks. So most conventional ways of hurting oneself are void.**

 **Yes there are guns but the Mim is programmed to help sustain the life it's housing, not smash it so I would assume they have some nice fail safes, and one of them is that without special clearance he cannot access his own Mim. One day, maybe, for now? No. Luna has access and will be almost like a second medic in a way. So Mitch will be covered, not like he'll really fight anyway.**

 **Now then! Other than making a Star Wars reference with the name (Sorta... It's close enough for me) you can probably guess who's going to be joining the party on planet Mira! They've always been there, but only building strength. Until a certain white haired badass and her team just happen across a stronghold in search of a missing team. Sooooo... Ya. Also, for their own plot purposes, Division Ten will also be getting a Ganglion asshole to go against.**

 **Elma and her team has Luxaar and some of his little lieutenants. Desmond and his will have some other ones to deal with. Fun right? Also, the design for their main enemy is going to be a pretty nice reference to a mechanical asshole in the first Xenoblade game. I'll give you one hint.**

 **"Fancy seeing you here, Monado boy." Cues Enemy in our Path and we have a boss fight! At the end of the chapter I will tell you who the bad guy is based off of, so you can search him on the magical searching device and see him to get an idea. I will be changing his stuff so he doesn't just have his claws, because honestly? In the first one where they have basic advances in weapons, claws are practical. In this? The only one who did was Goetia's Skell, and we know how that blew over. And hers had laser claws.**

 **So I will be buffing this guy up so he stands a moderate chance. Holy crap why are my messages getting longer and longer?**

 **Cain: Cuz you love me?**

 **LucarioKid: NO! We're starting this so they can be happy and I can get the pepper spray!**

 **Cain: *Hiiiiiiii** ** _sssssssss!"_**

Desmond knew that whenever they had a lead on something big it was usually the LifeHold. But to get a message that said there was a huge threat to the entire remainder of humanity, then there was a problem. It certainly didn't help his consciousness that his cousin was more enraged than he had ever seen before. He just hoped it would be something easily remedied.

"Please just be a Tyrant, or an asteroid."

* * *

"What do you mean they followed us!?" Desmond and his cousin were both royally pissed. Not only had they both found out a team had been killed, but it had been done by the same people who destroyed their planet. Elma had recounted the story to them, explaining everything that had happened, which only seemed to piss off the Vandham cousins even more so.

Desmond clenched his fists, gritting his teeth enough that it seemed they would shatter into a million pieces and he would get cybernetic versions of those too. He let out a tense breath, lowering his head and closing his eyes.

"So, let me get this perfectly clear... The people who destroyed Earth followed, us, killed a team and have a whole base already set up?" Elma gave a depressed nod, making Desmond nod his head in a bouncing manner.

"Great!" He shouted, throwing his arms into the air, turning and walking towards the wall. He suddenly turned, pointing to his cousin, Jack.

"So be good! For goodness sake! Ooooh~, somebody's comin'!" He started to walk around, trying to cope with his anger in a more entertaining way. Director General, Maurice, rubbed his chin in thought.

"The way I see it, they must have more than just this base here. They could be set up as far as Sylvalum and Cauldros, meaning we need to get those FrontierNav beacons out there and working. We need to think worst case scenario here. They know about the LifeHold and plan on finding it and killing us. So, we need to double down our efforts and find it before they do. Which means, every division will be pulling double duty from now on."

Elma nodded, standing and moving up to the front.

"From what we engaged of them, they are highly advanced in their technology and weapons, going by the name Ganglion. From what we saw of the base, they're pretty well entrenched there. Which means we need to find ways to keep them contained, while preserving what we're doing."

Maurice nodded, the lights dimming and merely snapped. The screen behind him lit up, showing the symbols of every division, including Division Ten. Now it made sense to Desmond why the leaders of every Division were gathered here. They were going to talk strategy and battle plans against this Ganglion Menace.

Desmond took a seat next to Elma, listening to the changes each division would be going through. Some where pretty obvious, like having the Interceptors not only fight against Indigen, but also against the Ganglion forces when they detected problems on FrontierNav.

Others were less obvious, like the Mediators mostly being changed to outer city jobs as well. Some would be moved to the small camps outside the city, keeping those running and defended from the Ganglion. It was also thought that if the Ganglion caused problems than the Indigen would get riled up, meaning more attacks from them, meaning more effort put into stopping them.

Then they got to Division Ten.

"Most of you haven't heard of this division. We kept it under lock and key because the nature of this mission could cause panic in the people. What is said in this room does not leave this room. Understand?" Everyone let out a, "Yes, Sir!" Except for Desmond, Elma and Jack. The logo for Division Ten was enlarged, then a picture of the Telethia flying in the sky, though it looked more like a black smear with yellow markings, was shown.

"Ladies and gentlemen, this beast is known as a Telethia. It has attacked numerous teams and settlements, killing what seems to be everything it sees. So, we've comprised a team of four individuals who we believe will be able to take this beast down. But, not just this beast. Any extraordinary beast that may prove to be a threat for even our best will be handled by this group. And this group is led by Desmond Vandham." The collective looked to Desmond, the Cyborg waving his hand calmly.

"Sup." Elma merely chuckled, guessing he would do something like that. Maurice cleared his throat getting their attention.

"With the Ganglion menace, we plan on having Division Ten, as they are known, going out and taking out high value, dangerous targets of the Ganglion from Generals to full on base assaults." Everyone started to murmur between themselves, Maurice quieting them.

"But that is not what his team's main mission has been, as you're now aware. We picked him and his team for a specific reason to hunt down that beast." He gave a side glance to Desmond, then turned back to the group.

"Desmond has more knowledge of the beast than anyone we know of, even having survived a direct attack to his body by the beast, leaving him without his limbs and infecting him with a toxin. If anyone is the right choice to send, it's him." Desmond stood, walking up with his hands in his pocket.

"I won't talk too much, but the most basic thing you need to know about this monster is simple. It's a monster, treat it as such and DO NOT ENGAGE! I don't care if you think you and your team are the coolest thing next to sliced bread. I have seen firsthand what this thing is capable of, and trust me, you'll be luck to even damage the damned thing."

"Then why are you fighting it?" Desmond turned to see a man in the back, blonde hair running down the back of his head, a smug grin on his face.

"Because unlike you, I have the balls to fight against something that has scarred me for life, because unlike you, I'm not a Mim, hiding back in Stasis!" The man looked like he was ready to fight Desmond when the cyborg pulled back his sleeves, showing his cybernetic arms.

"Keep talking." The man got quiet, grumbling something under his breath. Desmond pulled the sleeves back down, placing his hands back in his pockets.

"That's what I thought." Desmond looked to Maurice, the Director nodding and clasping his hands together.

"You all know what must be done. Get out there, and do it." They all filed out except Desmond, Elma, Jack and the Director.

"So, how are we planning on actually doing what we need to do?" Desmond knew what a speech that was for show looked like.

"We're outgunned, outnumbered, outclassed and any other type of disadvantage you can think of. What do we need to do and how are we going to do it?" Maurice sighed, rubbing his chin in thought once more.

"We're not sure yet. As far as we know, the Ganglion are stuck here like us and are merely adjusting to life on Mira, having their own struggles. Which would explain why they haven't been able to attack us yet, unless we just so happen to stumble into their path. But that can all change in an instant." Desmond leaned against a wall, crossing his arms over his chest.

"Look, if they are struggling like we are, wouldn't it be best to scout them out and strike first? Ge them before they're ready?" Jack sighed, shaking his head.

"Were it so easy. We've thought about that, but just like them, we ain't anywhere close to being ready for an all out war, as much as you would love crackin' some Ganglion skulls, Desmond." The leader of Division Ten cracked his knuckles and gave a sadistic grin.

"Payback's a Bitch, cousin. You know as well as I they deserve a nice helping of it." Jack laughed, leaning back with his body and head.

"As fun as that sounds, we can't do that yet." Desmond looked to Maurice and then got curious.

"What do we know of them, truthfully and not politically?" The Director shrugged, leaning back in his chair.

"As far as we can tell, they have two bases in Primordia. One to the South East where Elma and her team engaged them. And a much larger base to the North West, by the entrance to Noctilum. Other than that, we have so little information on each region that for all we know they could have a tight hold on them." Desmond started to think, his cousin laughing.

"I can see the gears in your head turning. What are you thinking, Desmond?" He gave a playful smirk to his cousin, then turned to Maurice.

"I propose an idea for my team, Sir. What if we went and surveyed those areas, planting beacons, hunting the Telethia and taking out any large Ganglion threats we come across while tagging others for Elma's team and others to handle? We could get several birds with one stone." Maurice thought about it before nodding.

"Very well." Desmond nodded, glad him and his team were going to actually get out of Primordia and the safety of the city. Then his cousin spoke up.

"Hold on a minute, Buster. You and your team are good and all, but going on foot would be a stretch even for you guys. Give it a week to not only prepare yourselves and make sure Primordia won't go to Hell without you, but let me talk to my little mechanic, Lin, and see if she can whip up some fresh toys for you and your team." Desmond started to shake with excitement.

"A brand new Skell for me and my team? Oh, you shouldn't have."

"I haven't got em yet, ya Tin Can. Besides, Luna already has one last I checked, but that thing isn't quite up to par with what you're doing. Give me some time to get you the Skells, then you can go. Deal?" Desmond nodded, holding his hand forward.

"I'm holding it to you, cousin." They shook, Jack shaking his head.

"I only hope the girl doesn't put a damned chainsaw on everything." Desmond smirked.

"That's be awesome!"

* * *

Mitch was playing a video game with Jason, the duo having something nerdy in common, while Luna made notes of how they played the game, waiting for her turn to play and strike them down. They heard the door open, Jason chuckling.

"Daddy's home." Desmond chuckled, throwing a pillow from the couch at him as he sat.

"You wish." Luna looked over to him, curious what had transpired at the meeting.

"What happened?"

"Well, the asshats who destroyed Earth are here as well, we're going on an adventure in a week or so, and we're all getting new Skells for the trip. So make sure you renew your licenses. Or get them if you don't got one." Mitch turned, knowing he was the one being referenced.

"Just because I don't have combat experience doesn't mean I don't have a Skell license. I actually aced my test, I'll have you know." While he had been turned away, Jason proceeded to charge his super move, hitting Mitch with it and killing his character. Mitch turned, his face reading shock.

"NO! How could you!?" Jason calmly put his hands behind his back, smug grin on his face.

"Do what it takes to win, mon ami." Desmond chuckled at Jason's French side showing through. Luna took Mitch's controller, shoving the crying medic away. She said nothing as they picked their characters, settling on a ninja while Jason picked his lizard character.

"Don't cry when I beat you, Rouge." She turned to him, keeping a perfect poker face.

"Ditto." Jason chuckled.

"Feisty." The fight started, Jason charging like Luna knew he would. She instantly countered and killed his character in one hit, smiling the whole time.

"No fucking way." Desmond swooped in, kicking the controller out of Jason's hands and into his own.

"Scoot over, Narr." Luna picked her same character, Desmond settling on his favorite character. The large demon wielding a red great sword. The fight started and Desmond taunted, thrusting his sword up and his character saying, "Tremble in Darkness!"

Luna swung, being countered and turned around. Desmond had his character stab her into the ground, then held her up on the sword like a marshmallow on a stick. The sword started to glow in immense power, then released it, blowing Luna's character into several large chunks. Desmond's character than swung his great sword around before holding it horizontally in front of him with one hand.

"Your soul was weak!" Luna stared at the screen a few seconds before dropping the controller.

"How did you beat me?" Desmond gestured her close, the tactician leaning in.

"Never fuck with a guy who has a sword bigger than him. Because Great Swords are the best." She stood and walked away, turning back briefly.

"That game is stupid." Jason and Mitch chuckled before shouting out, "Salty!" Luna walked away, not trying to retaliate in any way. She was beat and was going to retreat with what was salvageable. She would lick her wounds, then return and put Desmond in his place. Desmond chuckled, sitting back on the couch.

"Never would have expected her to be the salty one out of this group." They all chuckled before going back to their game, Desmond winning them all but one when he had to play blindfolded to make it fair. Even then, he almost won. He could only smile the whole time, grateful for his team. He just hoped he could keep them safe.

* * *

"So, these are our Skells, huh? Cool." Lin had led them to the hangar, wanting to show them their new Skells, having actually scrapped Luna's despite her protests against building her a new one. Lin led them to the hanger, practically jumping around.

"You're gonna love them! I promise." Desmond smirked, trying to keep up with the excited girl.

"If they're anything like my enhancements then I have no doubts in my mind, Lin." When they entered, sure enough, there were four Skells waiting in a line. Lin cleared her throat, getting their attention.

"These Skells are different from the ones you have seen around NLA. These are the best and strongest we have made. So don't go wrecking them right when you get them." She then walked forward, starting at the right one. It was a pale green with white highlights, the visor also white, but very bright and fierce. The main weapons were two different guns. One was a fire gun, the other a beam gun.

"This is Mitch's Skell, an Inferno Skydon model Skell, made with multiple types of power weapons, ranging from EMPs, to basic canons and a shoulder mounted mini-gun. The coolest part has to be the special weapon mounted on his right wrist. A special needle shooter that shoots a special type of liquid that we believe in similar to the crystalized version on Desmond's back, meaning it's powerful and long lasting. But you only have a limited amount and we designed it for the Telethia."

Mitch walked up to his Skell, resting his hand on the frame, smiling as he looked it over.

"I've never had a Skell before. Sure, I got my license, but was never given one, ya know? This is great!" Lin smirked, moving to the next one, a red and black one that was significantly smaller than Mitch's. It had a black glowing visor as well as a large rifle of sorts on the waist. There was a beam sword on the opposite waist as well, the Skell seemed to look fragile, but certainly wasn't.

"This little girl is for Luna. It's a Verus Cain model, far faster and stronger than the normal Verus model. This is mainly designed to be split between both ranged and close range fighting, with it's diverse weapons. Back weapons consist of a disruptor that can cause splitting head aches for enemies, a cool device that creates rings out of plasma and throws them at the enemy, and shield generator on the left arm, an electric canon on the right arm."

Luna approached her Skell, eyeing it closely before nodding.

"This will do." Lin pumped her fist, glad her choice in Skell wasn't bad. She walked to the third Skell, a large grey one with camo markings on it, the visor glowing grey as well, making it almost seem monotone. Lin seemed really excited about this one, probably because it had a very large railgun on the back right shoulder, a very large shoulder pad on the left, heat resonating off it.

On the right arm Desmond could see a spike on the top of the wrist, instantly realizing it could extend into a spear. On the left were plates that had been folded in, showing it was supposed to be a shield. Desmond chuckled, knowing the Skell was going to be for Jason. It was a very large Skell though.

"This is for Jason. An Amdusias Hades model. This big thing can do anything from launching dozens of missiles to coating itself in a large energy ball to stop attacks. Think a barrier of sorts. This thing has every sort of weapons you can imagine, crammed into it and all loaded to the top with the most powerful ammunition we could find. On the back is a rail gun, and on the left shoulder a battering ram of sorts, that is heated to incredible amounts. Perfect for slamming your enemies flat on their butts!

The very special thing about this Skell though, had to be the BFG canon." They looked at her, wondering what it was.

"What's that?"

"Big Fucking Gun." The answer had come from Desmond's cousin, who had been watching the whole thing from in the back. Desmond chuckled, turning to his cousin.

"You named it didn't you?" Jack shrugged, not losing his smirk.

"Maybe I did, maybe I didn't." There was Desmond's answer. Lin cleared her throat, wanting to continue her explanation.

"Anyways, as I was saying, the BFG is used with highly volatile anti-particles that may or may not have a chance to take very atom in your body and your Skells and make them implode on themselves. It worked in testing, so you should be fine... Probably. Just done use it in the rain... or snow... or anything other than normal weather." Jason had a bead of sweat rolling down his face.

"Great, mine has the equivalent of a nuclear reactor attached to it." Desmond chuckled, punching his shoulder.

"Lucky you!" Jason glared at him and getting a dark glint in his eyes.

"Maybe I should test it on you." Desmond shook his head, not wanting to see if Jason actually would. Lin once more cleared her throat.

"Focus!" They turned back, looking to the final one. It was a large black and dark blue Skell, the visor also a dark blue color and dull. They noticed a huge great sword on the right shoulder, making Desmond chuckle. There was a large bundle of metal and cables on the left shoulder, making Desmond wonder what that was. He looked in the hands of the Skell, finding two beam swords that were powered down.

On the back was an even larger sword handle than the one on his right shoulder, but there was no blade. Then he noticed the black and blue spikes underneath it, wondering what those were. He saw that on the wrists were two energy panels, which Desmond guessed created energy shields.

So, this is Desmond's Skell, made with some AMAZING technology, that probably won't work. But if it does then that would be cool." Desmond shook his head. Of course he was the lab rat for her crazy toys.

"His is a model Mastema White Reaper, despite it being blue and black. It only has one gun, and it's a little mini-gun that unfolds from the right arm. I know how much you love swords and stuff, so I loaded it up with the best stuff I could find. The back right sword is a thermal/beam cross, meaning you should be able to slice through stuff pretty easily.

The big hunk of metal on the left is actually a test scythe, since we wanted to test it and decided you might like it. The handle on the back is part of a special blade that we have been working on for a while now. It will basically activate a magnet that will pull those cool spikes off your back and form a sword! But not just any sword! A Chainsaw sword! Or ChainSword.

Problem is, we haven't tested it yet, but we can guess it take a large toll on your fuel usage and all. So use it as a last resort." Desmond looked closely at the Skell, admiring how strong it looked, and the sleek design. Then Lin chuckled, standing next to Desmond.

"We also installed something cool to it, that we'd like you to test real quick. Since you aren't a Mim, we want to see if there is some way for you to control it without being in it. Almost like controlling a Mim, but not actually doing so." Desmond nodded, looking into the blue visor of the Skell.

"How do I do that?" He had never used a Mim before, let alone connect to one.

"We've already put you in as the registered owner, so only you can use it. Just reach out to it and try making it move. Desmond nodded, looking at the visor intently. Thought about moving the head, waiting for something to happen. When nothing happened he groaned and lightly dropped his, surprised when the Skell did the same. He turned his head, the Skell following his movements.

"That is so cool." He waved, smiling, then opening his arms, knocking over Jason's Skell, starting a domino effect as they all tumbled over. He chuckled uneasily, grinning at his team who just glared at him.

"Well... It works!" Jason shook his head, trying not to grin.

"No shit." Lin ran over to them, glaring darkly at Desmond.

"I told you not to break them right when you got them!" Desmond shrugged, hearing his Skell copying him behind him. He turned, his Skell looking at him.

"Stop it!" The Skell shut down, crumpling to the ground with a clang. Desmond slapped a hand to his forehead.

"Goddammit! Please tell me I can learn to control it without it copying me all the time?" Lin nodded, checking over the crashed Skells.

"That is the eventual plan, yes. Just practice... away from other Skells. Luna nodded.

"Yes, please do!" Desmond smirked at her, raising an eyebrow.

"Are you still mad I beat you at Mortal Fighting?" Luna looked away, crossing her arms.

"Absolutely not. I am above such trivial things... We're having a rematch." Desmond chuckled, shaking his head and realizing his Skell was copying him again.

"Course we are. What'd I say about copying me!?"

* * *

"Luz, have you finished what we asked of you?" The Xeno bowed to 'master' angrily scowling.

"If you mean creating my beast of power, than no. I have not. Maybe I would, if you would stop pestering me, Luxaar." The slug growled at him. Him! Luz, the smartest man in all the universe! He who had created life from nothing and trained it to do his bidding! He who had conqueror an entire planet without an army! Only to have it dashed and stolen by the Ganglion.

But he worked for them now, and had no choice. Though, they gave him free reign with funding and experiments. Even giving him better toys to use during his experimentations.

"Hold your tongue, Worm. We have given you time to make this creature, and use it to kill, not only the humans, but that damned beast that keeps attacking our troops!" The Xeno stood, glaring darkly at Luxaar.

"You gave me four months, and last I checked, I have a good month and a half left, Luxaar. So if you want to sit here and talk down to me, then you'd better shoot me, because you're wasting your time. I hate the humans as much as you, but you cannot rush things and go in blindly, you fool!" Luxaar clenched his fists, about to order the scientist to be killed when Goetia stepped in, smirking.

"Brave words from such a cowardly creature." Luz turned to her, hissing through his mask, his vicious green eyes settling on her.

"Silence, Harlot. Lest I feed you to my pet once he lives. You'd be a good first snack." She laughed, walking next to Luxaar and whispering in his ear. After a few seconds Luxaar waved his hand at Luz.

"Get back to work, Noxian trash." The labeled Noxian turned, hissing angrily as he went back to his lab. He would make them pay for talking down to him. But first, he had to create his monster, then kill the humans.

"Nothing will stand in my way." He reached his lab, looking in the large test tube at the monster that was slowly growing behind the glass. Barely a few days ago it had been created, barely even considered a Fetus and it was twice the size of a human. Luz placed his hand on the glass, hissing calmly to the monster.

"Grow, my pet. One day, the world shall be ours." He returned to his Skell, deciding he needed some fresh air, even if Cauldros was a hell hole of a place. His pitch black Skell was twice as big as even the largest human Skell, large plasma claws on the hands that extended out multiple feet.

A large ether canon on the back, huge clawed feet and powerful armor the humans only wished they could pierce. He had large missile launchers on the shoulders, and a very large pair of twin swords on the back that crossed under the ether canon.

"Come Dulam. I need to kill some lesser beings." While he said that, all he really wanted to kill was humans, but was in no mood to try and find some that were not going to cause him immense problems. He did not want to get into any major fights right now. Just something where he could picture Luxaar's face on it and slice it into a million pieces with his claws.

"One day I shall be rid of these bastards. But you shall help me... Yggralith."

 **So ya, this guy's a douche to the max in case you hadn't noticed. Now then, his actual design I will go into more when Desmond and the others meet him. His Skell is based off of the Mechon from the first Xenoblade, Metal Face. Except there isn't a human face and it's more just a metal plat with slit visors running along it.**

 **He has other weapons, but they'll get shown later. His pet? I hope to God you know what I'm talking about or you'll be so lost. Now then, with Jason's super gun the BFG, just know the idea comes from Doom. Amazing game and I thought a weapons like that would be perfect for a Skell... So I added it. Yaya! Anywho, if you have any questions comments of concerns than let me know. Also, with the people reviewing, the only one who I can PM and answer the question for is Rose Duelist (Epic person!)**

 **Everyone else, I cannot respond or talk to you since you have those settings turned off. If you want me to talk back and interact, turn those settings on and PM me. Or else, I'll only be able to partially interact with you. Just saying.**

 **Now then, hope you all enjoyed, especially Luz. He's actually really fun to write, despite his... well you get it. Now then, keep calm and may the Aura be with you all!**


	5. Seigbert

**So the reason I haven't gotten to this was two reasons. First I was busy as hell, and unable to get to it. Then my wisdom teeth decided to come and backhand the crap out of me and make me wish I could either die or rip them out myself. If you don't know the pain, then imagine have a non-stop throb that feels like someone it stabbing you in your jaw. Eating sucks, laughing sucks, walking sucks, and sleeping sucks for some reason, despite the fact I'm always tired.**

 **I think it's somehow related to the pain in my right ear since a day after my teeth started to hurt my ear felt like it was getting ripped off from simple sounds like music and stuff. So everything kinda sucks. Ya. Sorry for taking so long Rose, but things hurt and when things hurt I don't want to do anything. Anywho, I'll just start and get it done as soon as possible. Here we go!**

Desmond was running, not taking any chances. He turned back, seeing the black silhouette as it closed in on him. He kept going, everything around him lighting up that evil yellow. Then his back, where the toxic crystal was started to hurt, like he was being ripped in half. He kept running, but his vision was being clouded by the yellow. He tripped, though on what he wasn't sure, since there was nothing but the shadows around him. He rolled to his back, groaning in pain. Then he looked the beast in the eye. It towered over him, bigger than he remembered.

He stood, reaching for his sword, only to find nothing there. He looked back to it, taking a precautionary step back.

"Oh shit." He saw the large clawed hand raise up, blood on the claws. Desmond braced himself, shouting and fighting as the creature picked him up, holding him in front of its face. He didn't stop struggling, until the eyes started to glow yellow, making him freeze in place.

"What-What is this!?" It hissed on him, its breath feeling as painful as the toxin he was put into him. He gasped as it felt like his lungs were being placed in a vat of acid. The breath stopped, but the mouth opened wider. The large teeth sharp and black as the creatures scales as he was pulled closer.

"Not... like this." He pressed against it, managing to get loose enough to get out and jump down. He turned back, the Telethia watching him through its yellow eyes. He tried to run when his path was blocked by the tail. He ran to another opening, only to have the head block his path. Then he felt a claw slice into his back, sliding under the crystal and acting like a handle picked him up. Desmond shouted in pain, trying to pry the claw out of the crystal in his back either out of him or free from the claw.

"Kill me or let me go... but don't toy with me and waste my time!" It seemed to ponder his words before throwing him into the air, where he reached out for anything to grab. When he fell he turned back to the Telethia, everything, including the beast turning black, except for the yellow eyes and the yellow light at the back of its throat as he fell towards the large maw.

"No!"

* * *

Desmond shot up, drenched in sweat and his crystal glowing like a light on the wall behind him. It hurt, so he tried massaging it, finding it warm to the touch. He sighed and slowly saw with his legs off his bed. He knew going slow would make things worse and he didn't want any of the others worrying about him. He looked at the clock, seeing it was three in the morning, a half an hour off when they were due to wake up. He braced himself and closed his eyes. He shot up, grunting in pain, getting his armor on and heading into the kitchen to start the coffee.

He sat on the couch, breathing in and out as the pain in his crystal faded. He ran a hand through his white hair and eventually rested his head in his hands. Standing, he made himself a small breakfast that would sustain him till lunch. He watched the clock, seeing it was getting closer to 3:30. He then walked into Luna's room, flicking on the light.

"Up and at 'em!" She shot up, her hair flayed to the sides in every direction, drool trailing down the side of her face and evident on her pillow. Desmond chuckled, moving into Jason's room, doing the same only thins time seeing the eyes of something not to far from Satan staring at him. He gave a grin back, chuckling as he watched a hand with its middle finger appear from under the blankets. He only laughed more before heading to Mitch's room.

He flicked the light on, making noises. The medic slowly got up, looking around like he was unsure where he was. Then he fell back, quietly snoring again. Desmond walked in, standing over the medic and shaking his head. He rubbed his chin in thought before getting an idea. He pinched Mitch's nose closed, waiting for the results. Mitch floundered around, shouting in fear before flopping on the floor.

"Risen! Wolves! Risen Riding Wolves! AAAAAGGGGHHHH! Save the women and children! Grab the traffic cones! Use anything as weapons!" Then he seemed to reach Ear-Mira again and looked around. He looked into Desmond's pale yellow eyes and blinked a few times.

"Speak of this to no one." Desmond started to walk away, turning back and smirking.

"I don't need to. You probably woke up half the city screaming about fighting Risen riding Wolves with Traffic cones. You should lay off the games a little bit." Mitch chuckled uneasily before standing, in none other than a blue onesie. Desmond gave an incredulous look, while Mitch gave a confused one.

"What?" Desmond pointed at it, shaking his head.

"Is that what I think it is?" Mitch looked at himself, then nodded.

"Yes. Don't judge. They're comfy." Desmond backed away, arms raised in mock surrender.

"By all means, do what you wish. Just don't let any hot chicks hear about this." Mitch shrugged, closing the door on Desmond's face so he could get geared up. Desmond returned to the kitchen, seeing Jason fiddling with his jacket, Luna looking ahead blankly but spinning cups and pouring coffee like a pro. Desmond was impressed, sitting next to Jason who just glared at him.

"This is stupid, getting up at three in the morning. Why would we do that!?" Desmond chuckled, watching Luna as she poured the coffee, then spun the cup before sliding it towards them, never looking at what she was doing.

"So we can get there right at the crack of dawn and get a nice full day of searching. We may end up camping out there as well, so I just want to make sure we get there nice and early. Haven't you ever been on a trip? The rule is to wake up before everything else, avoid traffic and get to your destination. Come on!" Jason groaned his distaste, having stolen the coffee meant for Desmond and drinking it.

"Whatever." They heard a yawn behind them and turned to see Mitch walking towards them his hair uncombed and clothes disheveled. Jason smirked at him.

"Morning Mr. Risen." Mitch gave a sarcastic laugh.

"Har, har, I'm surprised you're awake enough to think of anything moderately smart to say." Jason started to laugh.

"You don't need to be awake to have heard what you were screaming about. That was downright hilarious!" Desmond held his hand out as a cup of coffee slid into his hands. He took in the smell, impressed at it. He sipped it, further impressed. He turned to Luna and nodded.

"Nice cup of Joe." She let out a small moan that was almost a yawn. She was starting to look around, though it was mostly at the floor or ceiling.

"Are any of you guys morning people?"

"Nope."

"Hell no!"

"Grr..." Desmond shook his head at them and sighed.

"What am I going to do with all of you?" Mitch glared at him.

"Let us sleep?" Desmond gave a trying smirk to him.

"What was that, rook? Want to run twenty miles before we go!? Let's go!" Mitch started to panic, especially when Desmond stood up.

"Nonononononono! This is fine!" Desmond sat back down, proud of himself. Luna passed a cup to Mitch, who gave it back.

"Sorry, not a coffee fan." Luna seemed to break out of her stupor and glared at him.

"Care to correct yourself?" Mitch was scared, but not sure what he did wrong.

"H-huh!? I'm fine, Luna! Here, you have it!" She took the coffee and drank it, never taking her eyes off him.

"Soldier who doesn't drink coffee... and I thought I'd seen it all." Mitch sighed.

"Why does everyone say that? I just don't like coffee." Desmond started to talk while taking a sip.

"You do like onesies though." Jason spat his coffee out, choking slightly as he recovered. He looked at Mitch and his jaw dropped.

"Are you for real!?" Mitch nodded, though he was scared again. Then there was a weak laugh from Luna.

"Such... a child." She sat down with them, took one sip of her coffee before her head smacked against the table. Desmond groaned loudly.

"What have I gotten myself into?" Jason gave him a pat on the back.

"Too much." Desmond then turned his attention to Luna, generally curious.

"What's with the mad coffee making skills thins morning, Luna? Even when is a daze you nailed it." She slowly looked up, her hair covering most of her face before sighing and sitting up, eyes closed.

"Back on Earth, I worked in a coffee shop during my entire college career and learned how to make every type of coffee you could think of. I was going to get my own store, but was going to make more money in the secret corners of the government. So I did that, and got landed a seat on the White Whale. Whatever works." With that she said no more, fiddling with the ring on her finger. She had a look of... longing in her eyes that made Desmond curious, but he knew better than when to pry into secret matters. So he simply stood and readjusted his sword, downing the rest of his coffee and placing it in the sink.

"Come on, we're moving out. Get a to go bag, or finish it here, because I am not waiting." Everyone started to scamper to get done with what they had to do. Desmond had slightly lied, waiting by the front door for them before leaving. They made their way to the Skell hangers, everyone seemed to be fully awake now. They would have brought the Skells back to their hangars had Lin not wanted to run some final diagnostics on them.

Upon arrival they saw the young mechanic looking them over, bags under her eyes and yawning. Desmond chuckled to himself, now understanding everything Vandham had told him about her. He clicked his tongue, the young girl looking over and smiling, also rubbing her eyes.

"Hey guys!" She paused to yawn again.

"Just finished checking out your Skells. Everything is good to go! You can leave whenever you want! Remember Jason, do not fire the BFG in rain or anything other than normal weather." The Path Finder waved her off, loading into his Skell.

"I know, I know. And if I mess up, you can make fun of me and I'll haunt you." Lin smiled, watching with her arms behind her back as the Skells roared to life. Desmond certainly found the controls more open and fluid from the Skells he had piloted in the past. It felt much more flexible and less... robotic than the others.

"Ok, big guy. Let's go flying." They lifted into the starry night, their lights the only sign they were there as they soared through the sky to their first destination. The many islands between Primordia and Sylvalum. It was right in the middle of everything and seemed like a really good idea, so they decided to go there first. The flight wasn't very long, but they decided they would try out the weapons systems on a Leviathan they saw flying with them.

"Alright, let's hit it hard and fast everyone." They spread out, except for Jason who folded his Skell up with his shield in front. Desmond got above the Leviathan, waiting for Jason and everyone else to do their jobs. When Jason slammed into it, the Leviathan fumbled to the side, just like Luna said. There was a loud shot as Luna hit the beast with everything she had at her disposal. The Leviathan was trying to get a grip, when Mitch started to open fire into the face, distracting it for Desmond to draw his sword and cut the engines.

He fell towards it, sword above his head. When he reached it he swung down, the sword cutting deeply into the head of the Leviathan. He pulled out, the head barely attacked and the Leviathan barely staying in the air. Desmond then stab his sword into the head, a loud crack coming out as the sword went through the skull. He twisted, pulling out and all of them watching as the Leviathan fell to the ground with a loud thud. Desmond looked to them, giving a thumbs up.

"That'll do!" Jason started to laugh, looking his Skell over.

"Oh hell ya it will!" Luna merely watched, enjoying their first fight with their Skells went so well. Desmond then realized that Mitch had gone in without any fear and had done exactly as Luna asked. So he turned to the medic and gave the thumbs up again.

"Nice job, Mitch." The medic returned the gesture, but with both hands.

"This isn't so bad, not is it?" Jason put his hands over Mitch's Skell's head, where the mouth would be.

"Don't jinx us!" Everyone was quiet before they relaxed. Desmond eventually started to fly up.

"Let's just get to the islands." They continued in their flight, eventually reaching and landing on the ridge overlooking the islands. They got out of their Skells, looking at the landscape and enjoying the view as the sun started to rise. Desmond crossed his arms and let out a calm sigh.

"It's stuff like this that makes coming here a little less..." He couldn't find the right word, so Jason answered for him.

"Sucky." Desmond laughed at the choice of word.

"Exactly. Now then, is everyone ready to go?" They turned to see Mitch eating a breakfast sandwich he had packed. He held up a finger before eating the last piece. He wiped his mouth and brushed his pants off since he had been sitting on the ground. He started to chew, then swallowed and nodded.

"Yup. Let's do it." They all loaded their Skells again, landing on the first island, only seeing small Indigen. They didn't engage any of them, deciding to save their fuel for any bigger targets. They had only brought so many fuel tanks. And repair kits. Then they saw a large group of Ganglion Skells, making the group exchange looks and think of a plan. Luna had laughed seeing them gathered up, almost talking.

"This will be easy. I doubt they'll even hit us!"

When they had set up it was similar to when they had engage the Leviathan, but this time there were multiple targets and Mitch was also up high with Desmond. Luna opened fire, both Skells dropping and smashing into their targets. Desmond swung his sword, slicing a Skell clean in half, while Mitch was locked in ferocious combat with two at once. He was holding his own just fine. Then they jumped away, Jason looking at them from slightly above and a good length away. He put both hands forward and closed his fists, his arms seeming to come to life as his shoulders, legs, arms, hands, and chest became weapons.

"Like shooting fish in a barrel!" He opened fire with what looked like a streak of fire works, Desmond watching in awe as they struck the enemy Skells and obliterated them, pieces flying everywhere. Desmond let out a shout of excitement when he saw they were all destroyed. Jason looked closer at his arms when his Skell had reverted back, chuckling to himself.

"I am never giving this thing back!" Luna exited her Skell, bringing up her tac-pad suddenly. She started to tap on it ferociously when she jumped back in her Skell.

"Get away from the water!" They all rose up, watching in horror as what looked to be a giant shark with sharp, almost bladelike appendices, around its body and teeth that could rip their Skells to pieces. It slammed into the water, sending a splash into the air that seemed to breach the sky.

 **Tyrant; Seigbert, The Large Jawed. Level 78. Battle Theme: Id (Hope)**

"Holy shit, how big is that thing!?"

"Almost as big as the Telethia, but certainly heavier. We need to be fast if we want to kill this thing!" Mitch was hanging far back, fear starting to grip him.

"We're going to fight that thing!?" Desmond was about to yell at him for suggesting they run, but then thought about it.

"If Luna thinks we can beat it with speed, then we're going to kill it. We can't risk it hurting anyone else. Or causing problems here. Our job is to kill these things, remember?" Mitch looked to him, then back to the large fin moving faster than any boat he had ever seen before returning to Desmond and nodding.

"Yes, Sir! Where do you need me?" Luna came low, firing weak shots into the back of it while staying away from the head and tail.

"I'll divert it's attention while you all get ready to strike the eyes with everything you've got on my signal." Desmond drew his great sword, swinging it above his head and nodding.

"I'm on it!" Jason started to have his core glow green.

"Sir, permission to use the BFG." Desmond shook his head.

"Negative, that thing could have gotten wet in the splash. We can't risk it yet." Jason's Skell returned to normal.

"Yes, Sir. Give me the word and I'll power this thing up." Luna started to fire more into the back, drawing blood on each shot, though they looked like small pinpricks. Then it lurched back, opening its huge mouth that seemed like they could easily swallow the Telethia whole. They got a good look at the face and were surprised to see six eyes, three on each side. They were black and like giant marbles, but with an intent in them to kill.

"Now! Hit 'em with everything you got!" Desmond charged, inserting the blade into the back left eye, seeing it was rather weak and he didn't need to do anything else, so he backed away. Mitch had shot the front most eye with his mini-gun, the eye exploding, while Jason had used his spear to stab the middle left eye. One side was now out of commission as it went roaring back into the water.

Luna flew up to them, looking around and then seeming to panic.

"Move! Now!" Everyone flew in random direction, seeing the water begin to foam. Then the Tyrant exploded out of the water, coming right towards where they were, but Desmond noticed, as it seemed to reach his height and hover there, staring at him, that the eyes had a film barrier over them now. The large beast slammed back into the water, the wave grabbing Jason and pulling him down, the Path Finder cussing as he tried to stay up. His flight pack started to smoke and Desmond knew Jason was in trouble.

"Luna! Cover me!" She wanted to argue it was dangerous, but saw a team mate in danger and went to preparing her plasma hoops.

"Mitch, cover the idiots!" Mitch revved up his mini-guns. Desmond started to drag Jason higher, seeing the water foaming again. Jason started to glow green.

"Preparing the BFG!" Before Desmond could argue, Seigbert jumped out of the water, huge jaws locked back. Plasma hoops and bullets ripped into the head, seeming to make it back away, when it kept coming up. Jason's arms turned into a large canon, Desmond pulling him up higher, wanting to be as far away from the blast as possible.

Jason fired, a massive green blob of anti-matter flew towards the Tyrant, slamming into the head before a green light coated the area. When it cleared the body of Seigbert was still above the water, but the top half was blown off. It slowly sank into the water, the whole ocean seeming to turn red.

"Haha! Holy shit! That worked!" Desmond pulled Jason's Skell to an island, seeing as it was having a system backup. Jason climbed out, rolling on the ground and laughing. Desmond hopped out of his, falling to his knees.

"I legitimately thought it was going to short circuit and we would all die! Not ok!" Jason was on his back, his elbows propping him up.

"Just think what would have happened had I not done that." Desmond then fell on his back, the other two joining them. Luna felt like she should scold him, but was just too happy to see they were ok. Mitch was walking on shaky legs, taking three steps before whimpering and face planting on the sand. The group laughed at him as he rolled over slightly, an expression on his face that was both happiness they survived and anger that they were stupid enough to have fought it and won.

"What the hell was I thinking, joining you guys!?"

Desmond chuckled, shrugging.

"Hell if I know. But it was fun." They all looked to the large floating corpse. Desmond felt his comms spring to life and he answered it, seeing Vandham.

"Hey, Jack. You will never believe the Tyrant we just killed." Before he could continue, and slight berate himself for addressing him as Jack and not Vandham, his cousin gave a grim look.

"Good for you, but we're in some trouble at the city here. We have detected large Ganglion forces closing in." Everyone was on their comms devices now, panic starting to arise in the group.

"How big?"

"Big enough." He didn't have to say anything else before they put their devices away and loaded onto their Skells, Jason having kicked his, somehow fixing the system backup enough for him to fly. He couldn't get very high, but was moving nonetheless. Desmond kept replaying the words of his cousin over and over in his head.

 _"Big enough... Dear God. They mean to wipe us out don't they? After everything we did to escape them and survive... We're just going to have to fight for our lives again."_ He only hoped they could get their in time to get their Skells ready for combat and protect the city. Or what may be left of it if they weren't fast enough.

* * *

She hated the plan. She just hated the people who were using her and her prince in general. To invade the human city would be like stirring a hornets nest. A very big, angry one that was backed far into a corner. And she knew how much harder monsters fought when backed into a corner. She looked over to her prince, his face down crest and his eyes closed. He did not want this. He wanted his people to be safe.

 _"But this is safe..."_ Then she shook her head, growling silently to herself.

 _"No... This is murder and genocide... And we're going along with it. How the mighty have fallen..."_ They saw the human city in the distance, but the actual attack would not begin until the evening. She looked to the sky, seeing the clouds of storm and war approaching them. In a few hours... the city would either fall, or be left standing. Either way, they had a mission, and she knew that for the sake of their people, she could not fail it. She let out a tense sigh, turning away from her prince and dropping her mask.

She breathed in the air, unsure what to think. She eventually settled that she would follow her prince as she had done since he saved her on that day. She pulled her mask back up, resettling into her mask of thoughts as well. She did not want her prince to think she was troubled and burden herself even more. She wanted to help him instead.

"My Prince... Are you alright?" He gave a mocking laugh.

"Physically? Yes. Mentally? No. To have to kill these people for that... Bastard... I wished such things had not happened. I wished the people had not been dragged into this. And yet, here we are. About to kill humans who have suffered for far to long." She thought about what to say next.

"But you are not killing them, My Prince. They are machines." Ga Jiarg, her Prince, looked at her, eyes now open and angered. Not at her, but the situation they were in.

"It shouldn't matter if they are human or machine. We are killing them, for no reason other than to clothe our own backs. It is cowardly." She looked away, defeated and unsure how to progress.

"I see... I will remain by your side regardless, My Prince. I am eternally indebted to you." Jiarg closed his eyes and laughed.

"Anyone would have done the same, so I still do not realize why you speak the way you do." She looked at herself, her silver fur showing her difference from the others of their species.

"But you did regardless. Now I bear the marks of my shame forever." Jiarg turned to her.

"It is not shame the creature killed your family and scarred you. It is not shame that it torments your dreams and makes you constantly watch everything you do. No, the beast is shameful, and a coward. Attacking you, a mere child at the time. And now we are no different from it." She flinched, wondering if she truly was any better than the monster that had attacked her and changed her. She looked at her hand, closing her eyes and remembering it.

The dream she had almost every night. The black shadow as it chased her, and the yellow lights of its body and eyes. How it always ended with it eating herm no matter how hard she fought, even if she broke free. How she always woke in a cold sweat, scared for her life and breathing, sometimes in tears or having called for help.

 _"... We may be monsters, but that... Thing! That thing will always be the monster."_ She looked into the sky, almost thinking she could see its silhouette like on the day it had attacked her and her family.

 _"The Telethia."_

 **Dun, dun, dun! Devil's own luck? White hair!? Yellow eyes and Telethia-ness! If this doesn't scream something obvious then tell me, because I must be doing something wrong! Hope you really like this Rose, since my face hurts a ton! Also, the Tyrant was a custom Tyrant. I will mostly be using those, except for a few, which I will state if they are in the game by putting an X in their name. For example**

 **Tyrant; Pharsis, The Ever-Queen. Level 97 X. Battle Theme: Pharsis, The Ever-Queen.**

 **I'm pretty sure Pharsis has her own battle theme. Also! To that guy from many moons ago who asked if I knew who Pharsis was and never answered, yes I do. The crazy evil scary thing inside the huge tree orb thing in Sylvalum. Scared the shit out of me. Here's how I found her. I was at the tree, doing a quest to collect stuff and got curious about it. So, I flew up, actually aiming for the top when I saw a darker spot on the orb and some watery looking stuff. So I flew closer and saw it was a cave of sorts.**

 **I entered, took three steps, saw Pharsis hanging from the roof, pissed my pants and ran. I did go back, and actually swam around since she won't attack you out of a Skell and just explored the place. Super cool design on Pharsis too. I tried fighting her... and got one shot by her. I was surprised she wasn't tee-bagging me afterwards with how badly she owned me. I only laughed and promised never to return until I was sure I had a good Skell, gear, and Augments. Lin was funny when I started the fight thought.**

 **"This is totally not fair!" The sad part was, I was yelling back at her.**

 **"I know! That's why I saved beforehand! Ya dunce! Then we all fell down and drowned. I may have some cool side stuff with Pharsis now, and I'm not sure what it will be, but I want it. Also, for hunting Tyrants, I won't have them hunt any Ganglion Tyrants, since I hate the Ganglion for writing and stuff. Monsters are more fun. Anywho, if you actually have an idea for a Tyrant, then PM me since it'll be easier for me to read and I can ask questions back to get a better feel for the monster.**

 **Rose! You get first dibs on a monster since you've been helping me a ton! Especially with this chapter. I didn't know where I wanted Desmond and Co. to go first, so I asked her and she said the islands between Primordia and Sylvalum. Genius! Absolutely genius! Ah! Also, her story the Restoration if phenomenal! It's the normal Xenoblade Chronicles, ya know, with the Monado Boy and all. I love it so much! Ah! So much shipping and I finally got the one I wanted to start! I've reread it like five times! ... No! I don't like romance! I just ship things... a lot.**

 **Which reminds me. Mitch is going to get shipped with someone who can be on your team in Chronicles X, who is a lot more of side character, but is super awesome! Go ahead and guess who she is, if you want. I'll give you a clue.**

 **"I suppose I'm getting more used to this."**

 **That's your clue. Anywho, I'll shut up now. Keep calm and may the Aura be with you! Peace!**


	6. Battle for NLA

**This is the major battle for the last city of humanity. How will Division Ten be placed to defend it? What will happen? Rose knows, since she has been helping a ton. More shout outs to her. Also, Char, make sure in your settings that you are able to send messages and get them back, because you said you had an idea, but your name is not highlighted, meaning I cannot interact with you. Just so you know.**

 **Now then, there will not really be a Tyrant this chapter, for obvious reasons, seeing as they are just fighting to save the city, and it wouldn't make sense for Telethia or Pharsis to come join the fun half way through. Just saying. Now then, remember, send in your ideas for a Tyrant and I'll try to get around to using them sometime. This chapter will include the meeting of a certain Ganglion we saw briefly. Luz ring any bells? Good! Anywho, let's get this started, eh?**

Desmond and his team were in BLADE tower while Lin was fixing their Skells, mostly Jason's after it's 'minor' core melt down from using the BFG while it was wet. On the plus side, they hadn't been ripped apart on an atomic level... As far as they knew. They had been informed of the plan for the civilians, to take them away to safety using the ship of the Man-on. A recently acquired ally in the fight against the Ganglion. Desmond didn't see any problems with them, finding them to be respectful and helpful. If only their voices weren't so... annoying. Reminded him of Alvin and the Chipmunks if they had gone to space and became smart.

The plan they had proposed to them was something Desmond certainly didn't enjoy too heavily. He looked to the map of the city and their defense plan, seeing it was pretty sound but could be better if they had been used in a way that seemed smart. He turned to the Director General and pointed to the marker of the Ma-non ship that was far away from the city, hidden to the east, mid way from the city to Oblivia.

"So let me get this straight; you don't want to use my team in the city where they could be useful, but instead send them to guard the Ma-non ship that will be cloaked and hidden away?" Maurice nodded, but held up a hand to finish.

"Let me explain the thinking behind this, please." He readjusted his tie, and sighed as he folded his hands in his lap.

"We have the city pretty much on lock down, especially since we have Elma and her team guarding one of the entrances, and her team has never let us down yet. We have the other points also locked down very well, and have good faith that the Ganglion shouldn't be able to do very much damage, even if they hit us with everything they got. This city is designed after the real city of LA, meaning the buildings are strong and not going to fall from a few bombs.

What we're really concerned about is that, yes, the civilians will be away from the fight, but they will also be in the open if anyone finds them. As far as we know, the Ganglion have found their ship once, and can surely do it again. We also know they can be pretty cowardly, seeing as a lot of Ganglion attacks done are on small groups who are mostly defenseless.

We believe the main captains will not actually be at the city, but looking for the Ma-non ship, since I see no reason why they wouldn't know it is here. So, when these captains and high ranking men come looking for easy targets, they'll run right into a waiting Division Ten, who will make quick work of them. This is the plan." Desmond rubbed his chin in thought, turning to Luna and shrugging.

"What do you think?" She sighed, looking at the board and silently playing over the events of what could happen in her head. She turned back to Desmond and nodded.

"This seems like the best bet, Desmond. As much as I don't want to be away from the city, this is the best bet." Desmond nodded, turning to Jason.

"Go check on the Skells, we need to make sure we're ready, since the Ganglion won't just be waiting idly by for us. Go." Jason nodded, moving swiftly out of the room towards the hanger. Desmond turned to his cousin, giving an annoyed smirk.

"Anything else we should know of?" Vandham shrugged, chuckling lightly.

"Well, they came packing, so don't expect an easy fight or nothin'. But what else is new with you guys?" Desmond ran a hand through his hair, looking to the ceiling and cursing.

"After everything we've done, that everyone has sacrificed for, we still have to claw our way to survival. Bullshit." Mitch sighed, looking out the window to see the encroaching army of the Ganglion, just outside of their firing range. He turned back to his leader, seeing Desmond was in his own world. He looked to Luna, the strategist motioning him to leave. He nodded, following her out, but turning and looking to Desmond.

"If you need us, we'll be at the barracks. Ok?" Desmond nodded, head down.

"Ya... Thanks, Mitch." They left, Desmond still head down. Maurice looked to Jack, giving a glance and then leaving. When he was gone, Jack walked over to his cousin, hands on his hips.

"You ok?" Desmond shook his head, standing up and looking his cousin in the eyes.

"No, I'm not. This is just... I can't even find the word for it. It feels like humanity is cursed, and everything that could possibly go wrong, goes wrong, ya know? It's fucked up to be honest." Jack laughed, placing a hand on Desmond's shoulder and shaking him lightly.

"I always tell ya, you got the Devil's own luck. So if anyone is to blame, it's you." Desmond started to laugh, looking away and laughing louder.

"Remember back in boot camp, when the drill instructor started to kick the crap out of me and you tried not to do anything, but were turning red from anger?" Jack laughed, leaning against the table.

"Ya, what about it?" Desmond just shrugged.

"Not sure, but it just came to my mind how through pretty much everything, we've been there for each other. From basic training, so just growing up. Ya know?" Vandham nodded, shaking his cousin again.

"And nothin' is gonna change after today. We're gonna kick these assholes out, and then keep pushing them back until we're finally standing on our own two feet again. Got it? We're family, and we stick together." Desmond nodded, holding out his hand. Jack grabbed it, the cousins shaking hands like they always would. Desmond started to walk out, but turned back and smirked.

"Guess I got to go show off my bad luck, eh? Wish me luck in not destroying something important." Jack laughed, pointing to his head.

"Other than your brain from the amount of times you've slammed head first into a problem? Trust me, something's going to get broken. Watch your back out there cousin." Desmond nodded, giving a warm smile to Vandham before saluting.

"You too, Sir. Or cousin. Take your pick." Jack smiled back to him.

"Right now, cousin will do just fine. Kick some ass." Desmond walked out, but his voiced echoed back.

"Planning on it!"

* * *

Jason had checked on their Skells, deciding the best thing he could do now was head back to the barracks until they were called to move out. The Ma-non ship was almost loaded as far as he knew, but people could be taking their sweet time, as people did in times of crisis, instead of being helpful. When he reached the barracks he saw Luna and Mitch were already there, the duo cooking something. Jason smiled, walking next to them and helping.

They knew they didn't have very much time, so they were making simple grilled cheese, since Mitch always complained they never ate anything cheesy and tasty. But Jason would be damned if they didn't put some ham on it. He went to the fridge, grabbing the pack of ham and throwing it over his shoulder to Mitch, who caught it and started to place it on the bread. Luna was making some sort of drink, probably coffee based.

This continued for a few minutes, until Desmond walked through the door, seeing them all making food. He merely nodded to them, a weak smile on his face. He went to the stereo they had, turning it on and cranking up the music. He settled next to them, clasping his hands together.

"What do you need me to do?" They chuckled, Luna motioning him over. Desmond started to help her make the drinks, which turned out to be tea. She leaned over to Mitch and spoke silently.

"If you say you hate tea, I swear to God, the Ganglion will be the least of your worries." Desmond swore he saw a bead of sweat roll down the medic's face. He chuckled, Mitch stuttering his response.

"N-no, M-ma'am! I love tea!" She nodded, going back to what she was doing. Desmond finished his job, setting the table. The food was finished right when the table was set, the team seating themselves and treating themselves to the basic meal. They shared jokes and bantered back and forth, sharing what could be their last moments together in happiness. Desmond then raised his cup of tea and smirked.

"Usually these are done with wine glasses, but this will." The others laughed and rose theirs.

"In case we don't make it out today, you guys are the best damned people I've ever had the privilege of not only knowing, but fighting with. Cheers, to whatever happens. And whatever does happen, we take in on as a team." Jason started to laugh, shaking his head.

"Coming from you, the one who punched a Saltat to death because you couldn't find your sword? Oiy. But what the hell. I'm seconding that." Luna could only smile.

"Third." Mitch shrugged.

"I was the one who wanted to feel like I was doing more. Can't exactly do more, other than riding a mechanical death machine into battle against aliens who are trying to make your species go extinct. But, it's been fun. Even the scary parts where we could die." Desmond chuckled.

"You mean every day?"

"Pretty much. But I do agree. Fourth that notion." Luna sighed.

"I guess that vote carried, unanimously." They softly hit their glasses against each other, finishing the rest of their meals before placing the last of their gear and weapons on. They went to the hangar, seeing their Skells being fueled up, a Ma-non waving at them.

"Excuse m-me... Are you the humans who a-are protecting out ship?" Desmond nodded to him, looking briefly to his team.

"Yes we are. Division Ten, here to assist." The Man-on jumped excitedly, motioning them to follow.

"We have a nice hiding spot o-on the side of the s-ship for you to ambush the G-Ganglion. Here, see?" The Ma-non pointed at four small indents, then pressed a button on his comms device and the indents opened to a large hidden cargo bay. Desmond nodded at it, turning to the Ma-non.

"Does this ship have any weapons on it for assistance?" The Ma-non shook his head.

"N-no. We did not plan on having to have our ship f-fight to be honest. So, so, so, you'll be on your o-own. I'm sorry." Desmond sighed, looking to the others with a smile.

"Won't be the first time we've used bullshit to win the day." Luna gave a slightly annoyed glare.

"And it won't be the last, either." Jason was trying to keep a straight face, so Desmond just glared at him.

"Got something you want to say, soldier?" Jason nodded, snickering loudly.

"You must have the devil's own luck."

"I do not though! Who told you that!? Was it my cousin!? I bet it was my cousin! Agghh! I wanna know, or I want to blow something up!" Jason placed a hand on Desmond's shoulder, smirking.

"I can guarantee that the second one will be happening. Now the, what are we waiting for? The last people are loading now. Let's get our Skells on board!" Once they were boarded, Division Ten waited in their Skells patiently, waiting for the hatches to open. If they never did, then it meant that the ship was safe. As much as Desmond wanted to fight the Ganglion, he would rather not fight, and have it be confirmed that the civilians would be safe. But like everyone told him...

"I do have the devil's own luck..."

* * *

"And why, of glorious leader, do you want me to do this?" Luxaar merely glared at the scientist.

"While getting the Vita back is vital, if we managed to destroy that Ma-non ship, we will have taken out hundreds of humans, and crippled them immensely. So that is why you are leading the assault on the ship, and not fighting in the city. Are you going to ask any questions now, Luz, or are you going to continue to speak to me in your sarcastic, treacherous tongue?" Luz looked up, mock thinking before looking at Luxaar.

"Why do I have to follow a slug like you into battle? That seems like a very viable question." Luxaar wanted nothing better than to kill the damned Slimsleesh where he stood, but they needed him and his research. Luxaar looked over the Xeno, that resembled a large silver lizard with blade appendices growing out of his back and arms. His black eyes darting around and his annoying tongue flicking in and out of his mouth. He hated the lack of respect the cretin gave him, from the fake titles, sarcasm, and that he never stood at attention around him, always slouching.

And the smell of death on him was horrendous, and the blood stains on his black spiked armor was vulgar. The goggles he always had on his forehead with their black lenses would often be on his head, meaning he didn't even care to look at Luxaar whenever he wore them. He had actually been surprised to see Luz without them on when he had summoned him.

"If you value you tongue, I suggest you grab it before it flicks its way into something it can't escape from." As if to taunt him, Luz's tongue shot out into the air and slithered back into his mouth. Luxaar could only scowl. He felt his anger coming to a head and his hands beginning to hurt from clenching them so hard.

"Just get out of my sight, you damned nuisance!" Luz placed his hands behind his back casually, and walked away.

"Bout time. I was going to die from being caught in your _illustrious light_ if I had to be here another second. Oh, do be careful while you sit here on your nice ship, while everyone else is out fighting and putting their lives on the line. Not like you would know what fighting for a cause is like. Oh, was that speaking out of turn? I think it was, judging by the lack of color in your hands." Luxaar turned, stomping away, leaving Luz to bask in his victory.

"Stupid slug. I'll mount his head on a pike on of these days. Then we'll see who's laughing." He walked to the hangar where his Skell was waiting, loading into the large black machine, hissing as he felt the power behind it.

"At least I get to kill some humans. Maybe take one or two for experiments." His long mouth on his snout twisted into a large, sadistic grin.

"Maybe this won't be too bad after all. I suppose I can find a way to entertain myself." He was only going with three men as backup, but felt he wouldn't even need them, or have them fight. what was the point in letting Luxaar's pets have fun? That's right, there wasn't. Let them get upset at the lack of combat, and go complaining and moaning to Luxaar and cause the over sized slug more head aches. Then switch out the pills for something that would give him intense muscle cramps. Luz cackled with laugher as his Skell screeched into the sky.

"This is going swimmingly!" His laugh echoed through the sky, fear in his followers as they trailed him.

* * *

"Desmond, we have some enemies approaching." Desmond nodded to Luna, turning his Skell on and priming his power to max. He needed to hit fast and with as much force as he could. He drew his sword, the blue glow on his Skell getting brighter. When the hatch opened he rushed out, seeing a normal Skell in front of him, reeling back in surprise. Desmond swung down, his sword easily cutting through the armor and the pilot inside. He turned, seeing the others finishing off their pilots, except Mitch, who had to back peddle from his enemy.

The Skell was much larger than the others, nearly twice the size of Jason's. It was pitch black, large grey claws with energy on the bladed side of the claws. On the back was a large Ether canon and several other smaller canons and missile launchers. There were a large group of small swords on the waist and leg of the Skell, but they didn't seem wieldable to Desmond, so he was unsure.

The eyes and lights on the Skell were piercing red, and the face looked almost like a skull, but with red blood like markings and scratches on it. The Skell had a large, almost lizard like tail, that swished through the air in annoyance behind it. The tip of the tail had a very large one sided blade, which was coated in red energy. The Skell had dark red almost chains around its wrists, the chains expanding and closing every few seconds. The armor looked very tough, and the Skell looked like it had strength to back it up as well. It crossed it's arms, hissing at them.

"Well, well! Look here! Couple of humans who think they can stand up to me! Ha! You're all bugs, ya know that right?" Desmond used his closed comms to tell his team to surround it. Luna was behind it and up high, her rifle aimed at its back. Jason was below it and to the right. Mitch was left and even with it while Desmond glared at it from the front, his sword waiting behind him.

"Coming from the one who is going after defenseless civilians." The pilot started to laugh loudly, picking up a clawed hand and moving the fingers.

"Oh I see. You're supposed to talk to me like good heroes and then beat me. Guess what kid!? Life doesn't work like that, and I've got enough shit going on right now that dealing with you will just be a nice stress reliever. Desmond smirked, spinning his sword.

"Dammit, I was just about to say that." The Pilot growled at him, his chains glowing before returning to normal.

"No, I'll take my time with you, human."

"My name is Desmond." The pilot scoffed, throwing his head back.

"You really think I care?"

"It's usually nice to know the name of the person who's going to kill you." He placed both hands on his hips, then began laughing loudly.

"In that case, meat bag, my name if Luz. Remember it when I slice you to pieces." The claws then grew longer, the energy around them glowing.

"Let's dance!" He rushed forward, Desmond barely blocking the strike of the claws.

"Usually that gets people right off the bat."

"Guess you've been fighting idiots for too long then." Desmond took the opening to kick Luz away. When he did so, a sniper round flew through the air and slammed into his back. He reeled forward, Jason using his ram to smash into the face of the Skell. Mitch went low, kicking the flight pack on the legs, causing it to lose balance. Desmond flew above, shutting off his engines and stabbing down into the Skell.

He would have smiled had he not seen the bundle of sword floating in mid-air, having stopped his attack.

"What the Hell!?" The sword threw him back, then flew around and settled into a floating ring behind Luz. He only had half of the swords in the air, the rest on his waist and legs.

"Ok, that was unfair. Four on one is not very nice."

"One Skell against a bunch of unarmed civilians is unfair, asshole." Luz turned to Jason, seeming not to care for the comment.

"Shut up, you!" Blades flew forward, Jason using his ram and shields to stop them. They just flew back to Luz, who crossed his arms once again. Luz started to raise his claws to fight again when he stopped, chuckling darkly.

"You brats are lucky. I have just been ordered to retreat. Apparently our O-so-special mission has just been completed. As if I care what the hell Luxaar does with his time. Damned slug. Until next time, when I can play with you more!" He flew up, his Skell changing to almost look like a jet before tearing through the sky and leaving a red trail. They were about to rest easy when the had shots race by them.

"They must be covering his retreat! Take them out and keep them from the ship!" Desmond nodded, rushing forward, prepared to strike down what looked like dozens of Ganglion Skells rushing them.

* * *

They had taken what they were told to collect. She had faith they would succeed, but she still was surprised it had gone as well as it had. Now all they had to do was escape while the remnants of the Ganglion force held back the humans who were starting to go on the offensive. She did have to give credit though. The small amount of humans she had fought were certainly skilled in their own reserve. Had they actually been more prepared for an inside attack, they might have stopped her and Jiarg.

But here they were, using their Skells to try and get this other, foreign Skell away and to Luxaar. She damned him, hoping something would eat him and grind his bones to dust. She looked to Jiarg, her prince seeming to shrink even further into his sadness. She wanted to tell him what they had done was right. But that would be lying. All they could do was get to Oblivia and deliver the Skell to the Ganglion who were waiting. Then she turned her head when both their comms sprang to life.

"We're getting killed out here!" She turned to her left, seeing large explosions ring out. She saw four human Skells dancing around the Ganglion, the grey one shooting a barrage of bullets and shredding everything to pieces. The red one keeping its distance, but striking deep and killing everything with one strike. The pale green one dancing and avoiding everything that came at it and delivering quick strikes back. Then the black and blue one with the sword, as it sliced through everything that was in front of it, never stopping and only seeming to go faster.

"My prince, we have enemies on the left." Jiarg opened an eye and looked over.

"They are defending the large civilian ship. We are safe from them. The flank is where we will be struck, if at all." She nodded, turning behind them and seeing many lights not a very far distance behind them. They would not have to worry about the other four. She hoped.

* * *

Desmond watched Jason rip the last Skell in half, before they all landed on top of the Ma-non ship. Desmond was about to hop out when he saw something in the distance. Multiple Skells moving what looked the be the large Skell Elma and her team had 'borrowed' from the Ganglion. And they were getting away with it.

"Guy. We got some people with that Skell taking off in the distance!" They all looked, having climbed out of their Skells to check the damage.

"So it would seem. We cannot chase them, Desmond. For two reasons. Our Skells have used almost all their fuel, and our mission is to guard this ship from Ganglion forces." Desmond looked around.

"What forces. They're running with that thing. Something makes me think they were looking for that thing the whole time. We need to get it back." Luna shook her head.

"No, Desmond. It's too dangerous for the four of use. There are more meeting up with it most likely. Our Skells would run out of fuel and smash into the ground before anything else." Desmond checked his fuel, seeing he still had half a tank left, and minimal damage.

"Alright, new orders. Defend the ship. I'm going to go play tag with the Skell snatchers." He lifted off, hearing them call after him.

"What the hell are you doin!?"

"Don't worry, I got this." They started to load their Skells when Desmond turned.

"No, stop. That's an order. We can't let them get away with that thing, but neither can we leave the ship unguarded. I'll be right back. At the worst, I'll tag it with a marker and we'll be able to follow it later." They stopped, Jason giving him to bird.

"If you die, I'll kill you!" Desmond chuckled, turning.

"They won't know what hit em!"

* * *

She had thought they were in the clear, at least until something slammed into her Skell, slicing straight through the hull and taking out the flight pack, causing it to fall to the ground. She had jumped to Jiarg's when that had occurred, but it did not change the fact that right in front of her was the black and blue Skell from earlier. It raised it's sword, about to bring it down when another Wrothian Skell stabbed at it, only to have the blue Skell retreat.

"My prince! We have an enemy!" He sighed, loading into his Skell and transforming it. She decided to sit on the shoulder and support as she could. She watched as the blue Skell stabbed through the flight pack of the other Wrothian's Skell, the machine catching fire and exploding. She readied her spear, hoping her other brethren would arrive to help soon. Jiarg readied his beam canon and held the Vita with his right hand.

"Who are you, human? You are far from your friends. You are either brave or foolish." The blue Skell spun its sword, holding it on the right shoulder.

"Foolish." Was the one worded response. She growled at the thought of having to kill again, but knew it was for the safety of her prince and people. More Wrothian Skells appeared, two of them taking the Vita and fleeing while three stayed to fight.

"You are outnumbered. Retreat now and we will let you live."

"Sorry, but I don't think letting you get away with that tin can would be very good. So if you surrender, I won't kill you." Jiarg laughed briefly.

"You have made a sore mistake human."

"Coming from the ones who attacked us for no reason? That's cute, really it is." Jiarg shook his head.

"My people are not behind the suffering of yours, human. I swear." The blue Skell lowered the sword into a fighting stance.

"And yet we stand on other ends of the battlefield." Jiarg could say nothing to this, only remain silent and watch as the blue Skell charged up power.

"I'm going to enjoy scrapping that thing!" It charged forward, swinging into Jiarg's Skell, the blow making a cut in the left arm. Jiarg threw it away, the other Wrothians moving to assist. She stood high on the shoulder, waiting for the perfect time to strike. Desmond stopped two of the blades, dodging the third and slamming the Skells together. He spun, slicing into them and sending them back. He traded for his dual beam sword, slicing into them quick, large parts flying off the Skells before they tumbled to the ground.

He finished, sheathing the blades. She took her chance, jumping onto the exposed back. She stabbed her spear through the flight pack, and into the cock pit. Desmond hissed in pain as the weapons struck his shoulder. He used his Skell's arm and grabbed the Wrothian, throwing her quickly. Jiarg caught her, checking her for injuries.

Desmond's Skell started to flash red and state something he didn't like.

"Great! That bitch sliced my fuel tanks! And explosions are imminent. Well, let's do this. Reroute all power to the center core and prepare for pilot launch."

Jiarg turned back to the blue Skell, seeing the fire rising on the back as it sputtered. Then the chest piece blew open, a black shadow flying forward towards his Skell's chest. Desmond sliced through the plating with his sword, flying into the cock pit and slamming into Jiarg. They both slammed against the back wall and Jiarg's Skell lost connection with him. It began to hover in place, trying to reconnect with the pilot. Desmond's Skell flew forward, Desmond telling it what to do mentally.

It grabbed onto the foot of Jiarg's Skell and locked itself down, locking its armor in place until Desmond wanted it to unlock. Desmond started to rise, seeing a large cat-like person standing with one foot on his sword. He stood, his arm bleeding from the wound of the women's spear. Jiarg took in the appearance of the human, noting the silver white hair and pale yellow eyes. He kicked the sword to the human, who picked it up and spun it. Jiarg slowly pulled out his beam sword, settling into the stance he had taken for years.

"Your move, human." Desmond rushed, swinging the sword faster than Jiarg had thought a human could. He barely dodged, swinging back to find his blade only his the flat end of the sword. They began to trade blows back and forth when Jiarg saw an opening, spinning and kicking to human away and towards the hole where he had entered. Desmond started to recover when a flash of silver flew in, drop kicking him away and into the far wall.

"Buidhe." She nodded to Jiarg, readying her spear while Desmond started to stand. His arm was killing him. It wouldn't have been so bad, had it not been his right shoulder that had been stabbed. He faced off against them, preparing to fight more. But he took in the appearance of the new warrior. Silver hair and skin, with pale yellow eyes. Her tail also looked shorter, like it had been cut. He was certainly surprised at the lack of clothing she was wearing, seeing as her breasts were very visible.

"Didn't your mommy tell you to wear clothes that don't make you look like a ho?" Buidhe hissed at him, glaring, though most of her face was hidden by her mask. Desmond smirked, charging and swinging horizontally. Jiarg blocked, Buidhe jumping up and swinging her spear at Desmond's head. He ducked, only to have a spinning kick from her slam into his shoulder. He slid back, clutching it in pain. He saw they were waiting for him to move again.

He started to raise his sword when he arm stopped working, and dropped the sword. The eye piece he wore slid over his right eye, flashing a small picture of his body and systems, where the right arm was red.

 _"Lost connection to right arm."_

"Awesome. Alright, reroute upper body strength to left arm." The Wrothians were surprised, especially when he kicked the sword into the air, catching it with his left hand and spinning it.

"Take it easy, eh?" He tried a stab, both Wrothians moving away, and Jiarg slicing at Desmond's right leg. The attack hit, hurting, especially when Buidhe used her spear to sweep his leg, aiming directly for the right one, causing more pain. Desmond, rolled away from the follow up attacks, unable to stand without using his sword as a crutch. His eye piece flashed again.

 _"Lost connection to right leg. Advise caution. Retreat advised. Retreat advised. Retreat ad-"_ He threw the eye piece off, sighing sadly. He tasted blood in his mouth, spitting it out.

"Reroute power from right leg to left." He hobbled on his left leg, just holding his sword up in front of him.

"Can't blame a guy for trying, right?" They stared at him in awe, moving in. Desmond swung horizontally once again, Jiarg sliding under and sweeping him into the air, while Buidhe spun, kicking him into the face and sending him down. Jiarg slashed, Desmond's sword barely blocking it, but still getting slashed on the face. He was on his back, pain flaring through his whole body.

"So... This is how it ends." He rolled to his chest, using his left hand to get up, his right dangling uselessly. He looked at Jiarg, the Wrothian raising his sword and preparing to stab. When he stopped. He saw something that made him realize what he was about to do was wrong. On Desmond's face.

Blood

Desmond spat some out of his mouth, grimacing at the taste. He glared at Jiarg.

"What are you waiting for?" Jiarg lowered his sword, looking to Buidhe who had confusion on her face. Desmond was just as confused, working to his knees, but mostly sitting back on them.

"What? You want me to apologize first? I'm sor-" Jiarg had slammed his fist into Desmond's face, knocking him unconscious. Buidhe watched as her prince paced about, not saying anything to her.

"Why did you spare him?" Jiarg looked at her and frowned.

"He is alive. He is not like the other humans we have killed. They can be restored later if they succeed. He is human through and through." Buidhe looked closer at him, seeing the red blood, severely different from the blue blood in all the other humans they had killed.

"Gods. But... His arms and legs." Jiarg looked at them, seeing the sleeves ripped and the metallic arms underneath.

"He has been maimed. He probably barely survived. And now lives like this. I will not allow him to die, defending his people like this." Buidhe did not want to argue with her prince, but knew if that Ganglion found out, there would be consequences.

"So what? We risk our people for him?" Jiarg shook his head.

"No. We will hide him, but if he is discovered, we will hand him over. But I will not allow him to die, either. He will be our prisoner." She couldn't believe what she was hearing.

"My prince, you cannot be serious?" He turned to her and nodded gravely.

"I am, Buidhe." She stopped, the sound in his voice making it impossible to argue.

"It shall be done my prince. But... What about his Skell?" Jiarg looked out, seeing the black and blue Skell locked to his Skell.

"Bring it, and hide it." She nodded, hoping they wouldn't regret this choice later on.

* * *

They were all worried in their own way. Luna was pacing, Jason cracking his knuckles as he sat in the chair. Mitch was looking out the window, whispering to himself that everything was going to be ok, and their leader would walk through the door and be just fine. The door opened, and Vandham walked in. They all crowded him, small amounts of hope in their eyes.

"Do you know where he is?" Jack ran a hand through his hair and let out a slow sigh.

"No. Not yet. But we'll find him." Jason growled in anger.

"I'm going to kill them all! And then, I'm going to kill him!" Mitch merely walked away, hands on his head.

"I knew it. I knew it. It's all my fault." He turned to see Luna with red eyes in the chair, head down. Jason turned, seeing the same thing and looking to Mitch. The medic motioned the Path Finder forward. Jason seemed surprised, but nodded. He knelt next to the chair, and began to comfort her. Mitch walked to Jack, sighing in defeat.

"Do we know anything at all?" Jack shook his head.

"No. We think they went to one of their bases in Oblivia to refuel and headed somewhere west, since they don't have any major bases in Oblivia. We're thinking they may have gone to Noctilum. Why? Don't go off on your own." He shook his head quickly.

"Never thought that way, Sir. But I do plan on searching for him. I was planning on seeing if I could join Elma's team when searching since my team seems a little..." They both turned to see Luna crying, talking about how it was happening again, and it was her fault.

"Indisposed." Jack nodded, motioning Mitch to follow him.

"I'll go with you. We were planning on sending them out in two days to search for these two big bastards who wrecked a large part of the Commercial district, and could cause problems later. You could join them and find out some info. I'll help you get filled in on the way and ask if they'll take you." Mitch nodded, turning to Vandham and smiling.

"Thank you, Sir." They stopped, Jack holding a hand out.

"Jack. You had Desmond's respect, with the way he babbled about you. So you also have mine." Mitch shook his hand, nodding to him again.

"Thank you." Vandham smiled, leading the medic to Elma's barracks.

Jason was trying his best to calm Luna down, but every time he tried, she seemed to get more upset.

"It's not your fault, Luna, calm down."

"But it is! Because of me, they're dead! Because of me, I'm alone! It's all my fault!" Jason needed to figure out what she meant and to get on even ground.

"Who died? Desmond is fine. He's stubborn."

"No! My team! My brother! Lucas! He died because I left! I left and he died! Him and the whole team! It's all my fault!" Jason flinched. He knew about Luna's team dying, but not that her brother was on the team.

"That wasn't your fault. You did as he asked and saved Desmond. It was not your fault. It was the Telethia, not you." She sobbed into his shoulder, clenching him tight enough to break bones. He nodded, as she cried.

"I don't quiet understand how it's your fault, Luna." She showed him the ring she was wearing, noting to design and how it resembled a moon.

"Me and my brother, when we left Earth together, we gave each other rings to show that we would always be there for each other. Never leave each other alone. And I lied! I broke my promise when I left him and my team to fight the Telethia alone!" Jason slightly shook her.

"Dammit girl, that wasn't your fault! Neither was Desmond being a dumbass and getting himself into whatever the hell he is in! So suck it up and get back into the game! Doing this moping cry baby stuff isn't going to fix jack sit! So pick yourself up, and help fix this. It's not your fault. Ok?" His voice was soft again. She let out a soft sniffle, looking up at him and nodding slowly.

"Good, was that so hard?" She didn't respond, making him groan.

"Did I mess that up?" She shook her head, hugging him.

"Thank you." He chuckled, returning the hug.

"I think our medic ditched us... Again. With all the times he takes off, you'd think he has a secret girlfriend of something." Luna laughed weakly, running her sleeve over her eyes.

"Do I look presentable?"

"Is presentable red eyed and like you were crying like a baby?" He rubbed his cheek.

"Slaps hurt."

"I didn't even hit you that hard you baby." Jason snickered, the broke out into full laugher. Luna soon joined him. It was then that she knew, things would be better. Maybe not very soon, but as long as she fought on, they would get better.

* * *

He rubbed his head as he sat up, hearing water moving near him, but it made his head ache.

"I'm not even hungover though. Uh... Dammit, Jim." He looked around, seeing he was in a cave. He blinked a few times, seeing two black silhouettes near him, but behind these metal bars.

"What the hell is this?"

"Glad to see you're awake. Welcome to the home of the Wrothians, human." Desmond looked around, seeing multiple cat people around the cage he was in, most glaring at him as they went about their business. He looked back to the two, realizing they were the same ones he had fought.

"Oh shit."

 **Hot damn this was a long chapter, but I could feel it in my soul as I wrote it! So that's good. Well, Desmond has been capture by the Wrothians, meaning weird shite is going down. I'm actually so tired, I don't even want to write this Author's Note. So, I'll just say, hope you all enjoyed it a ton, since it took me like three hours to type. Keep calm and may the Aura be with you! Rose! Hi! I need to stop falling asleep at three in the morning.**


	7. Search for an Idiot

**So this started off great. I was typing, with my bomb ass Boxer chilling next to me. Then someone came to the door and he ditched me. ); Scooby! Come back! I suppose I'll just have to listen to some music from the game Journey. If you've never heard of it, then look it up. Absolutely stunning game. The guy who gave me the idea for the Tainted Caro, I will use him! I have the best idea set up for him, but not for a few chapters, but he will be important, I promise.**

 **Anywho, let's continue with what has happened to our favorite idiot. Because trust me, he is a major idiot. No, I'm not talking about Mitch. The other idiot who almost died in the first five minutes of the story. Yes, that idiot. Anywho, let's get this thing a rolling! All aboard the Division Ten train! Whoo, whoo!**

Desmond didn't know what to say. So he glared at his captors. Not only had they not killed him, but they took him back to their lair, wherever the Hell that was. He shakily got to his feet, noticing his limbs had been repaired, and he had mostly healed, a yellow paste where he was sore.

"So, this is awkward." He leaned against the cage, looking at the two Wrothians in front of him. He noticed the women was especially glaring at him with malicious intent. The man was just looking at him with his arms behind his back. Desmond looked around the cave, seeing his 'cage' was near the small water pond near the back of it. But his cage was certainly not really a cage. He could easily break it, since it looked as if it had just been stood up quickly.

"So, where am I?" He looked around, seeing large boxes and racks with weapons in the distance, his sword and gun leaning against them. The man cleared his throat.

"This is the home of the Wrothians. I am Prince Ga Jiarg, and this is my retainer, Ga Buidhe." Desmond looked between the two, not sure he should be thankful, or angry they took him prisoner. He merely chuckled lightly.

"So, let me ask this. Why didn't you kill me on the Skell?" Jiarg shook his head.

"Killing someone such as you would have been... rude, to say the least. You are very much unlike your other brethren, are you not?" Desmond thought about it, wondering how they knew certain things about his species, but he was pretty sure they had sliced open enough humans to figure out they weren't actually humans. Blue blood and circuits certainly gave that away.

"So? Aren't we enemies? That should have been enough incentive to kill me, don't you think?" Jiarg shook his head.

"I agreed to kill Mims, in return for my people's safety. Not a living breathing human. You may not think it right now, but we do have morals and honor, human." Desmond took one more look to the people behind them, looking closer he could see something that made his stomach turn. Many of them were skinny, and dirty, as well as injured. When they looked at him, some did have anger in their eyes, but he noticed an underlying emotion.

"They're scared... Aren't they?" Jiarg nodded slowly.

"Everyone is. We have sent away our children to a place we thought safer, where they may be free of war. But even then it will eventually find them. We are pawns to the Ganglion, and eventually it will be our turn to be sacrificed. But until then, I wish to keep everyone as safe as I can. You understand this better than most, don't you?" Desmond didn't look him in the eyes, merely looking to the far wall.

"Unfortunately, everyone I meet seems to have that same resemblance, and that isn't always a good thing." Jiarg once more nodded to him.

"You have neglected to tell us your name. But I will not pry." Desmond thought about it, knowing he would rather be called his name, than 'human'.

"Name is Desmond. Leader of Division Ten." Jiarg merely smiled at the pride in his voice. He could relate though, when he spoke about his people to Luxaar, he couldn't stop the pride in his voice as he spoke about his people.

"I see. What possessed you to come after us alone? You and your team seemed to be defending that ship, and you separated from them." Desmond started to laugh, quite a bit louder than he planned, but he didn't care anymore. He had made his bed, so he was going to sleep in it.

"Most of my team was low on fuel from shooting everything they saw, but I use only melee weapons on my Skell. So I saw you running with that big Skell, and decided it wasn't a good thing to let you get away with it. I had thought you were going to be easy like most every other Ganglion I had fought. But I underestimated you, and in turn got my ass handed to me." Even Buidhe smirked at that, though her mask hid it. She wouldn't admit it out loud, but hitting the annoying human had been very... Fulfilling.

"You make it seem like you didn't even touch us. You did destroy a number of our Skells, and badly damaged a few others, as well as damaging mine, which very few people have done." Desmond wore his smirk with pride.

"Guess I can count that as a tie then, huh?" Jiarg looked around the cave, then back to Desmond.

"You are still captured though, are you not?" Desmond gave an annoyed glare, walking to the side of the cage nearest the water, and lifting it up. Everyone started to panic as he went under it and let it back down. He turned after wiping his hands to see dozens of Wrothians with weapons pointed at him.

"Oops." However, there was a throat being cleared, and the weapons lowered slightly. Jiarg stepped forward, no weapons drawn.

"You all would draw a weapon on an unarmed man? Shame." Desmond smirked, mainly to Buidhe who was surprised and pissed all at once.

"Ya, for shame!" Then he felt something familiar be thrown into his hands, seeing his sword in his hands. Jiarg looked to his people and nodded.

"Now he is armed."

"Shit." Buidhe was the first after him, stabbing with her spear. Desmond jumped back, grabbing the handle with both hands and setting into his stance. When the rest of the warriors went to help her, Jiarg stopped them, wanting to watch the two white haired warriors. Desmond twirled his sword casually, wondering if throwing it to the ground would stop the fight he was clearly outmatched in, since his human flesh was still sore and hurting. Especially right at the spots where his human flesh met his metallic limbs.

"Go easy?" She growled low at him.

"No." She rushed at him again, trying for a horizontal swing, which Desmond ducked under, and retreated. He held his sword up, knowing he needed to be careful, or else get impaled, again. She stabbed, which he parried away, only to get kicked in the face. He rubbed his jaw, which was now sore again.

"Can you stop kicking please! You did that like ten times last we fought! That shit hurts with those heel things you have!" As if to taunt him, she tapped her front foot. Desmond twitched slightly, cracking his neck.

"I'm going to enjoy smashing you into the floor." He rushed, preparing for a stab. She moved, but was surprised when he pivoted, and slammed the flat side of his sword into her, knocking her away. He watched as she recovered mid-air, landing casually on one of the boxes. Desmond wasted no time chasing after her, pushing through the people in front of him. He jumped up, landing on the box while she jumped away. He started to chase her, swinging whenever he got close, but only hitting air.

She landed back on the ground, turning to see Desmond descending on her with his sword above his head. She jumped back, the force knocking her further back. She slid along the ground, stabbing the spear into the floor to slow her down. She looked up, seeing him rushing again. If he wasn't going to give her breathing room, neither would she. He swung horizontally, hitting air. He turned, seeing her standing on his sword. She then kicked him in the face, jumping away and landing on a rock.

She jumped back again as he threw his sword at her, the blade imbedding into the rock where she had been. He ran forward, grabbing the blade and using the rock as a launch pad to jump after the airborne Wrothian. She prepared for a slash, but instead he crashed into her with his shoulder, both rolling on the ground, before Desmond landed on top, his sword to her throat. She prepared for him to end her life, since he had won their combat.

"Do it, human." He shook his head.

"You spared me, so I suppose I should return the favor." He just stood, using his sword as a crutch. His mechanical parts felt fine, but his flesh ached like fire. He just wanted to sleep now. Jiarg watched their interaction throughout the fight, both not willing to let the other show the other up, but he noticed that as the fight rang on, Desmond only seemed to get more into the fight. He had noticed it when fighting him in his Skell, how despite the human's injuries, he had gotten more aggressive and powerful.

He walked over to Buidhe, helping her up. She looked away in shame, not wanting to have to admit that Desmond had bested her. Desmond then collapsed to the ground, sweat rolling down his face.

"Holy... Hell... She's good." A Wrothian went to help him, but Desmond waved him off.

"I'm fine... Just need to catch my breath. Thanks though. When I'm not dying, Me and you Jiarg! Rematch! Without the Kicking Queen." Buidhe looked ready to impale the recovering human, which did not go unmissed by Desmond.

"Calm down Buddha, just a nick name. You've had those before right?" Her eye twitched, and Jiarg saw her reaching for her spear again. He sighed, knowing her pride was one of the only things she had left, and she was ready to die defending it. This human needed to learn that, before he got impaled by her.

Desmond stood, hobbling back to his cage, where he rolled under the hole he had made. Even Jiarg found the act to be entertaining, some of the Wrothians laughing at the display. But by beating Buidhe, he had earned the respect of some of them. Though, one Wrothian did not seem pleased by this.

"My Prince, this human is not safe to be kept around. You saw by that fight." Jiarg turned to him.

"You seemed to have forgotten, that I was the one who instigated it. He merely defended himself, and spared Buidhe, proving what I believed about him all along." He turned to Desmond, who was now sitting up, paying close attention.

"He is honorable, and someone who I think could help us."

"But he has not completed the rite of passage to label him a true Wrothian, your Highness! All Wrothian must do so. You know this." Jiarg grimaced. He had forgotten the ritual, knowing full well that it was very important.

"I see. Then if he wishes to walk around among us, let him complete it, or die trying." Desmond raised his hand, getting their attention.

"What did you just volunteer me for?" Jiarg nodded, realizing he should have asked first.

"To be seen as an equal in Wrothian society, young Wrothians must go out with their father or mother, and hunt a creature of great strength. However, you are not a young Wrothian, so you must fight something stronger, and you are also missing a father and mother. So, you will have to hunt something stronger, and I guess you will have to pick someone from the clan to go with you. You may pick whoever you like. They cannot say no, and you may leave whenever you wish. But until you complete the challenge, you must stay in your cage."

Desmond looked around at all the warriors, seeing one or two who definitely looked powerful. But he already had his mind set.

"I pick..." He pointed at his partner, everyone gasping.

"Ga Jiarg." The Prince merely stood there expressionless. Buidhe then jumped in front of him.

"You may not pick the Prince!" Desmond cocked his head.

"Why not? He said anyone, and I choose him. Therefor, he is my partner, since he cannot say no." Buidhe wanted to argue, but couldn't think of a way to. Then she heard a strange sound behind her. Jiarg... laughing? She turned seeing him finish his laughing to look to Desmond.

"I knew you were strong, but tactile as well? You surprise me." Desmond shrugged, leaning against the back wall of the cage.

"I may have learned a thing or two from Luna. I'll be damned. I need to thank her if we live." Then he laughed.

"Besides, what's the worst that could happen? What are we hunting?"

"Not what are hunting, but who are we hunting." Desmond turned his head again. Jiarg merely gave a dark grin.

"Are you familiar with the Tyrant Barnabos, The Despot?" Unfortunately, Desmond knew exactly who Jiarg was talking about.

* * *

Mitch was certainly happy about what he was going to be able to do, but not the situation of which he had to. He finally got to go on a mission with Elma and her legendary team, which he had always dreamed to do. He just wished it was for something like slaying a monster, and not going out to search for Desmond and these other two people who apparently had led a major part of the assault on the city. Lin's description for the two was certainly very... interesting to say the least.

"A really big dude who was red and had a scary voice and a big sword hammer thing. And this small annoying girl who would ride him, and cast annoying spells and say everyone would die! We kicked their butts though!" Mitch nodded, certainly entertained to say the least. Elma's team had their own Skells, but they weren't nearly as high tech as his team's. But Skells were Skells. They were currently flying to Noctilum, to locate the pair and maybe some information on Desmond. He was skeptical though, seeing as the people he was chasing had gone to the east, and not the west. But everyone going in that direction either didn't have enough room to take him, or weren't heading out for a few days, and Mitch needed to get out to search as soon as he could.

Every day he waited, was another day that Desmond could die. So he wasn't going to wait idly by. They landed in the main glade of Noctilum, the silver glow around them feeling ethereal. They exited and started to look around, wondering what they could find. Then Mitch heard some Ganglion, motioning everyone over silently. Elma was the first to arrive, then the rook named Cross. Lin had to drag the small potato thing with her and eventually made it to them. She had to threaten to cook it to get it moving on its stubby legs.

"Those are Ganglion all right." They started to listen as the Ganglion spoke.

"We found some evidence that the running pair has made it out here, and we are on approach to your position now. We can trap them in between us." They started to walk away and Elma turned to Cross.

"What do you think, Rook? Engage, or leave them be?" Cross thought, then shrugged. Mitch then thought of something.

"They seem to have an idea of what they're doing. Why don't we follow them and see what that turns up, eh?" Elma nodded to him, giving him a pat on his back.

"Nice thinking, Mitch. You're turning into a fine BLADE." Mitch couldn't help but flush red at her comment. His hero complimented him on becoming a good BLADE. What normal person wouldn't? They began to follow the Ganglion, deciding to leave behind their Skells, since they were trying for stealth, and the large clattering machines were the exact opposite. They followed the Ganglion to the mouth of a cave, where they opened up their comms devices, while the BLADE members hid behind a rock.

"We are waiting for them. How long until they reach us?"

"A few seconds. Be careful. The large one is wild. The small one has some power behind her as well." The Ganglion nodded, getting their weapons ready. Mitch got his weapons ready, seeing Elma getting her dual guns out. Lin readied her mini-gun, while Cross brought out a large knife, imbuing it with an aura. Then the ground started to thud, and Mitch realized Lin must have been right when she said one of them was huge. However, when the duo came running out, Mitch noticed Lin's description didn't quite match up.

"I thought you said he was red?"

"He is, and that's not her either. These are two different people entirely." They watched as the big one placed his arms around the girl protectively, the large rocks on his arms hiding her. They noticed the fear in the big being's eyes, making them realize what was happening very quickly.

"We have to help them." He was about to jump out when a large group of at least ten Ganglion appeared behind the duo, raising their weapons and growling. Elma stopped him, seeing he was planning on going out there.

"What? We're not going to help?" Elma shook her head, then pointed up above the mouth of the cave. Mitch smiled at it. Loose rocks. Lin opened the side of her mini-gun and smirked.

"Fire Carnival!" Small missiles flew out, slamming into the rocks and causing them to fall. The large creature noticed this and ran, while the rocks blocked in the large group. There was only three of the Ganglion left, and they were panicking. Mitch sprinted forward, using his knife to stab one in the back of the neck, twisting and throwing it to the side.

He then watched as Elma gracefully spun through the other two, cleaving off pieces without trying, in a dance of death that left him mesmerized. When she finished she spun her dual swords, sheathing them on her back before turning to Mitch.

"Impressed?" He only nodded. Then he turned to the large creature, seeing it hold the girl close, hiding her behind the rock appendices. Mitch walked forward and waved, warm smile on his face.

"Hello there. We're friends. We won't hurt you." The creature backed away, but looking into his hands, probably at the girl. He looked up, shaking his head.

"How do we know?" His voice was that of a young boy's, which had made Mitch realize just how sinister the Ganglion actually were. Using kids, regardless that it was a big kid, for their dirty work. Nobody told him they were using the kid, but he could see the large chains around him wrists, and could easily put two and two together, and why the Ganglion hadn't killed him. They were trying to recapture him.

"You were running from the Ganglion, yes?" The creature nodded, hesitantly, but he did. Mitch smiled, taking a single step forward.

"We're standing against them, working to stop them from hurting anyone else. So please, trust us. We won't hurt you or her." Then Mitch saw something on the shoulder of the creature.

"You're injured! Let me help you. I'm a medic." The creature tried to step back, but there were only rocks behind it. Then he looked to his hands.

"You won't hurt me, or Celica?" Mitch shook his head.

"I swear on my life, that I will not harm either of you." The creature looked to his hands for a few seconds, then nodded. He stepped forward, lowering his hands and letting his friend down. It was at that moment that Mitch saw his first angel, or so he told himself. Pale skin, beautiful blonde hair, and sweet eyes. He didn't realize what he was doing until Lin punched him.

"Stop being creepy!" Mitch smacked himself in the head, reaching back and searching through his pack for his med kit. Despite being Mims, they still worked similarly to humans, meaning he had everything that was necessary, from stiches, to alcohol, gauze and anything else he would need for an in the field rescue. He walked forward, not looking at the angel-er-girl. He watched as the creature gently lowered himself down to where his shoulder was reachable. Mitch looked it over, instantly seeing it was a big gash, probably from when they dropped the rocks and one of them hit him.

He grabbed the cleansing alcohol, readying it.

"This may hurt a bit, but I need to clean the wound to keep it from getting an infection. You ready?" The creature nodded, closing his eyes. Mitch frowned. Just a kid. He poured it on, hearing the kid very faintly hiss in slight pain. When he finished he placed it away, pulling out the gauze, deciding to wait on stitching it, since he wanted to get some form of anesthetic in the kid first. He placed the gauze over the wound, more pained gasps from the kid.

"Almost done. You're doing good, so good." He needed to draw the kid's focus away.

"My name is Mitch. What about you?" The creature looked at him with big, innocent brown eyes, that made him stare a second before continuing.

"I-I'm Rock." Mitch smiled.

"Nice to meet you Rock. Want to hear a story?" Rock thought about it before nodding. Mitch smiled. This always worked on the kids back at the clinic he had volunteered at back on Earth.

"One upon a time, there was a brave man, who never ran away from anything. Most people saw this as foolish, since he never ran, even from the dangerous things. But when they asked him why, he would always smile and say, 'I have to stand firm.' Nobody knew why, until one day he got hurt. Everyone was worried for him, since while they had ran from the monster that had attacked their village, while he bought them time to run.

The asked him why he didn't run with them, why he got himself hurt so badly. He said, 'Because when I am brave and protect the people around me, they don't have to feel hurt, and sadness. And if I can take those from them, by standing and being brave, then I will do so a hundred times without thought. He survived, but now people knew why he did what he did, and because of that they treated him a hero, and he always made sure to take their pain away. And he never failed them, even hundreds of years after passing on. Instead, he passed his bravery down to the children, telling them, 'When you stand strong in the face of evil, you protect everyone, and that makes you a hero.'

So that's why children are brave. Because they have the hero deep inside of them. Some people lose it as they grow, but for some people it grows, until they become the hero." Rock seemed to lost in thought he hadn't noticed that Mitch had wrapped the wound several times to stop any bleeding or debris getting in it.

"All done." Rock looked at it, then smiled.

"That's a great story." Mitch shrugged.

"Ah, it was nothing. But I think I see a bit of the hero in you." Rock smiled, turning to Celica and lowering his head to her excitedly.

"Did you hear that!? I'm a hero!" Celica laughed, nodding to him.

"Yes you are, Rock." She turned to Mitch, bowing slightly.

"I thank you very much. It appears we have misjudged you." Mitch couldn't help his face turning red. First a compliment from his hero, now from an angel. This was the best day ever. Then he realized something. It was because Desmond wasn't here with his Devil's luck. His slight Irish luck was finally showing through. He almost wished Desmond wouldn't come back, but decided against that thought, realizing it was because of Desmond he joined Division Ten, and got to come out here and meet this angel, since Desmond was an idiot. It didn't make too much sense if one thought about it heavily, but it was the best he could do.

"Umm... No problem. Hehe!" Lin slammed her shield into his head.

"You're hopeless! I need to help you with everything, don't I!?" Mitch rolled on the floor, clutching his head.

"What'd I do!? What'd I do!?" Elma laughed at the scene, walking forward and offering a smile to Celica.

"We have a place you two could come and live if you wish. It's a safe place, where the Ganglion can't find you." Celica turned to Rock, seeing him watching Lin, Mitch, Cross and Tatsu having mock battles on the ground. She saw a large smile on his face she had not seen in a long time, and she treasure that.

"Yes, we will go back with you." Mitch heard that, shooting to his feet, pushing Tatsu off his head while pumping his fist.

"Yes!" Everyone looked to him, before he pointed somewhere in the sky.

"Look, flying waffle!" Everyone looked up, only to look back down and see him running away, the red on his face a beacon. Elma sighed.

"Sometimes I wonder." Celica turned to her and cocked her head.

"Wonder what?" Elma waved at her.

"Nothing. Best keep an eye on him, ok? Someone needs to." Celica laughed when she heard that. They caught up with Mitch, working their way back to the Skells, Mitch mostly watching Rock to see if his injury was fine. They eventually reached their Skells, seeing them perfectly fine. Mitch loaded onto his, standing it back up from the kneeling position. Celica stared at them in awe, while Rock tried his best to hide behind Celica. Mitch gave a wave with his Skell, turning to Elma and the others as they loaded onto theirs.

"We ready?" They all confirmed and started to walk back, not going to leave Rock and Celica by themselves. Mitch continued to watch after Rock's shoulder, making sure to be a good medic and keep his eye on it. He still needed to stitch it back up when they reached the city. The walk was only two hours, but it felt relatively short, since they didn't get attacked by anything, which Mitch thought was from either their large pack size, or from Rock's imposing form. Either way, they had reached the gates of the city in one piece, and he was not one to argue against good luck.

He led Rock and Celica towards the barracks, separating from Elma, but taking the duo with him. He waved his goodbye to Elma, shouting his assistance should she ever require it in the future. He parked his Skell outside the team barracks, deciding to go back out later and grab a few things. He led them in, having Rock use the Skell hangar door. To say Luna and Jason were surprised would be an understatement. Luna just about fainted at the large creature, while Jason went to find a gun. He stopped once Mitch convinced him Rock was friendly, and Celica vouched.

Jason had nodded, putting away his weapons, and apologizing for scaring Rock. So there they finally were, everyone watching from the living room as Mitch stitched up Rock's arm, using precision and softness that only a surgeon possessed. Luna was now curious, so she turned to Celica.

"So what's up with the Ganglion hating you and Rock, other than they hate everything that isn't them." Celica sighed. She hated telling the true reason why, but knew it had to be done.

"Rock is a weapon used by the Ganglion, and they forced him to do terrible things. He attacked my village, but I saved him, and we ran away together. We've been on the run ever since. I would give my life for him. He is very non-violent, wishing to help most everything he sees. I would never abandon him." Luna smiled at her.

"You've got conviction, and I like it. I only wish our leader had your brains though. He's an idiot." Celica leaned forward, now curious about them.

"Yes, Mitch told me about this leader of yours. Desmond, right?" Luna and Jason nodded to confirm her answer.

"Yes. He said, quite vehemently, that Desmond has the Devil's own luck. Is he ok?" Luna sighed.

"Probably is, but still ended up getting himself kidnapped. Moron. I hope they kick him in the face, a lot! He deserves it." Celica was at a loss for words. She knew banter between people was normal, but for her to wish that certainly surprised her. Then she saw the sorrow on Luna's face.

"I just wish he'd come back." Jason put an arm around her, comforting her. Celica tried to think why the tactician would be so upset about Desmond being gone.

"I know you should be sad, but you treat it like you lost a secret lover." Luna started to cough, shaking her head quickly.

"God no! I wouldn't date that idiot, even if he were the last man on Earth! Or Mira. Dammit space travel!" Celica nodded, looking to Jason.

"Then you must be, with the way you're holding her." Jason didn't really react, only sitting there. Then he got a devilish grin, leaning towards Luna.

"Darn, she's found us out, Lamb Chops." Luna looked ready to kill him, skin him, feed him to a pack of hungry Grex, and then shoot him with every gun on her Skell. He leaned closer, the Tactician panicking and closing her eyes. Was he actually going to kiss her!? She didn't know how to react. She wanted to be mad, but even then she wasn't sure. Would she like it? Would she hate it? Would she explode from embarrassment!? Then she felt him poke her nose.

"Boop." Her eyes shot open in red fury. Jason was already gone. She stood, her hair flaying around her.

"I WILL KILL YOU, YOU SON OF A BITCH!" She went careening down the hall, leaving a very confused Celica. Mitch walked back in, looking around, only to hear screams of pain, most likely from Jason.

"I told him not to hide. She can sense fear and find you anyways. One day he'll learn." Celica didn't know how to take that.

"They're certainly a... Lively bunch." Mitch started to laugh, sitting on the couch and letting out a sigh.

"Wait till you meet Desmond. Then we'll really have some fun." There was a shuffle, and Mitch turned to see Rock squeezing closer to them. Mitch stood, rushing to the child to tell him to mind his stitches. Celica watched with a smile as Mitch acted just like a father.

"You don't to hurt yourself more, huh?" Rock shook his head.

"N-No. But I-"

"No buts. We'll go do something in a few minutes, ok? I promise." Rock nodded, making his way back to the Skell hangar. Mitch went to the counter, looking for something. Eventually he grabbed his wallet, turning to Celica and smiling.

"Care to come shopping with me and Rock? I'll give you a tour of the city." Celica smiled at him, standing and walking after him.

"I'd love to join you. Oh and Mitch?" He turned to her and nodded.

"Ya?" She hugged him, the medic freezing.

"Thank you for helping Rock. It means a lot to me."

"I mean tons of ya-pretty lady, wow shut up, Mitch!" Celica released him, walking towards the excited Rock. Mitch sighed, trying to get his blazing face under control. He had never really interacted with girls at all, especially not one this pretty. So he was a train wreck to say the least. He then heard snickering, turning with a horrified face to see Jason and Luna making kissing faces at him. He grimaced.

"Oh go make out in a box!" The tables had turned mighty quick, and before that could change that, the medic dashed after Celica and Rock. His team being involved in his life could only end horribly. At least Desmond wasn't here. Girls usually like the badly scarred badass guys with big swords. How could he compete with that!? For all he knew, the leader was probably wooing his captors right now, bribing them to let him go, by loving them. Or pounding their faces into oblivion. Either way, the white haired devil was having fun.

* * *

"Buddha-Stop-Hitting-Me-In-The-Face! Ow!" How had Desmond gotten here? Now he remembered. After Jiarg explained what was going to happen, and the plan for heading out the next day, Desmond had relaxed in his cage, eating the food that had been delivered to him. He had been eating peacefully when Buidhe had visited him, only standing outside the cage and glaring at him. He had ignored her, but was starting to get annoyed.

"Yes, Buddha?" She narrowed her pale yellow eyes, hissing out her response.

"Do not call me that, human!" He only shrugged.

"You call me a nick name, so I will as well. Stop calling me human, and I'll stop calling you Buddha." She did not respond, at least, not immediately.

"I do not trust you." He nodded, biting into the mystery meat.

"I had a pretty good feeling, but wasn't sure. Thanks for setting that straight." She stepped closer to the cage.

"Are you mocking me?" He stared at her, a smirk working its way onto his face.

"Yup." She gripped the cage tightly.

"Your taunts are immature, human."

"You outfit is immature, Buddha. I doubt that hooker suit is going to get Jiarg's attention. I mean, we all know how defensive you got of him when I picked him to go out. Since you seem to interested in him and all that j-!" She had almost seemed to warp into the cage, wrapping a hand around his throat. While it did not hurt or stop his air supply, it certainly did hold him in place while she did a mix between punching, slapping, and back handing him.

"How dare you speak about me, or the prince that way!" And that was how he got there. His big fat mouth, and his bad luck. He may as well have a storm cloud constantly over his head at this rate. The weird part was, nobody was stopping her. And Desmond realized why. Her yellow eyes were filled with anger, glowing a bright golden yellow. The same yellow as the Telethia's spines. Then it clicked to him. Her white fur while everyone else had brown or dark fur. The eyes, everything. But he did not say anything. He would wait.

She eventually stopped, his face sore, but fine. She had not been hitting too hard, not wanting him to be hurt while him and her prince were on the hunt. She left his sitting up, stepping away and turning her back, before spinning and delivering a powerful kick to his face. It would heal by morning, since she had seen him recover from worse faster. Desmond went blank for a few seconds, eventually getting his grip back on the world, but only barely.

"Did someone get the number on that bus? No? Sue me!" Then he fell over, his eyes shaking.

"Why do I have the Devil's own luck." Buidhe stopped, turning to him, standing over him and glaring at him.

"What did you say?" He looked at her, glaring slightly.

"And I should tell you after you beat my ass because?" She twisted her foot, a crunching sound coming from under it. Desmond looked to her foot, nodding.

"Got it. I asked why I have the Devil's own luck. Happy?" She looked down at him in shock, piecing together in her mind what he had already done. She clenched her fists, kicking the side of his head and leaving. Desmond rolled on the floor, holding his head.

"What in the five eternal Hells!? What did I do to deserve this!?" Buidhe turned to him briefly.

"You said it yourself. You have the Devil's own luck." She left him, walking straight to Jiarg. She kneeled in front of him.

"My Prince, the prisoner. He has had contact with the Telethia." Jiarg nodded.

"I am well aware, Buidhe. What I want to know is why you decided to attack him maliciously." She looked away in embarrassment.

"He insulted me. And you." Jiarg nodded to her.

"And? You must learn to take rude comments, not to heart, but to throw them out." She nodded, standing and deciding she just wanted to retire for the night. But she stopped and turned to Jiarg.

"Do you think... there's a problem with my armor being a little too... revealing?" Jiarg smiled at her, shaking his head.

"I do not mind, and I certainly think that Desmond does not mind any... what did he call it? Ah yes, 'Eye Candy.'" Buidhe felt her rage rising again. She needed to go kick him again, but Jiarg already sensed what she was thinking.

"Go to bed, before you kick him again. Lest I order you." She softly groaned, walking away and to her corner where she slept. She did not trust the human, and did not want her prince to go out and hunt such a dangerous creature. But she knew he would anyways. All she could do was hope that Desmond kept him alive.

"If you allow any harm to befall him, human, I shall end you. And it will not be a quick death. Nor will it be painless." She laid her head on the ground, looking back to see Desmond's yellow eyes starting to glow slightly. He did not seem to notice, as his eyes fluttered closed. Then she noticed a very dim light, that she barely noticed, on his back when he turned over. Now she was curious, but was not in the mood to pry into him more. She was tired, and the pain from her tail was returning. But why? It had been silent for years, to where she had all but forgotten it.

She looked at it, seeing a dim glow from the tip. She growled, throwing it behind her like it had bit her.

"Damned Telethia, taking my tail." She looked to Desmond once more.

"But what did he do to your back? I will find out soon enough, human." Then she felt sleep take her.

 **This was amazingly fun to write to be honest. Hope you all enjoyed it immensely. Remember! Make sure you can get PMs! To that person who sent me that Caro, Consort I think your name is. I cannot message you for extra info about your Tyrant. So I will use him, but it may not be to your liking. Just remember this. Anywho, if you have any questions, comments or concerns, tell me via PM, since I'm pretty responsive, but if you want to leave a review then... fine. I don't respond to them too well if you want to talk or something. Remember that.**

 **Anywho, Rose! You called the ship! This was how I wanted to tease it, was this chapter, but you guessed it! Arrgghh! Anywho, hope everyone liked it, keep calm and may the Aura be with you!**


	8. Hunting

**So delays. Sorry, but I really only have the excuse of working on stories I have neglected, and my own laziness at times. Probably didn't help that some family things came up, either... But, we're here to continue this from where we left off, since you guys who read this seem to really love it. So that's always cool. I found this really good song for you Rose! It's called The Good in Me by Jon Bellion. You'll like it since you liked Lean on. Now then, let's not waste any more time, and get this thing revved up to full speed! All aboard the Division Ten Train! Or the DTT! Whoo whoo!**

Desmond was currently sitting on the ground, waiting for Jiarg to finish talking to Buidhe. About what, Desmond wasn't sure, but hopefully it didn't involve him. Especially since she was very capable of kicking his ass. He only won their spar since she was slightly angry and lashing out. Any other time when she had a straight head, he was sure she could easily end him. Eventually Jiarg and his retainer walked over to him. Desmond stood, rolling his shoulders and looking to the prince.

"We going?" Jiarg just gave a nod. Desmond smirked, turning to Buidhe who had a worried look in her eyes as she looked at Jiarg.

"Don't worry, Buddha. I'll keep him safe." Jiarg merely walked past, giving a small smile.

"You say that now, Desmond." The human just gave a fake wounded look to Jiarg.

"Excuse me, but I beat Buidhe yesterday!"

"Very good. And I could beat her daily, but have stopped doing so to preserve her pride. Something you need to learn how to do." Desmond rolled his eyes, sighing as they walked out of the cave.

"Ugghh, what's the fun in that?" Jiarg chuckled lightly.

"You keep your head for one." Desmond looked back to Buidhe, seeing her making a cutting motion on her neck before pointing at Desmond. Desmond then pretended to break something and pointed at her. She shook her head, pointing at herself, making a breaking motion, then pointing at Desmond. The former Harrier, glared at her, and she did the same. Then he smirked, sticking his tongue out at her. Buidhe merely clenched her fists, walking back into the cave. Desmond burst out laughing, seeing Jiarg with a blank face.

"Finished?" Desmond let out a few more laughs, then nodded.

"We're good. Now then, lead the way to Barnabas." Jiarg began walking again, Desmond following closely, and watching around them, just in case something was to decide the prince and human looked delicious. Wouldn't be the first time something decided he looked edible. Nor would it be the last... unfortunately. Desmond just wondered how his team was doing.

* * *

Mitch had enjoyed his day with Celica and Rock, learning more about the duo. He loved spending time with Rock, seeing as the large creature was as gentle as his voice sounded. Then there was Celica. Mitch was in turmoil. Sure, he had dated once or twice back on Earth in High School. But that was severely different. Most of the time it was just to say he was dating someone to his friends, and not much else. The most he did was hug a girl, and even then he was uncomfortable.

Now he had the girl hug him, on the first day, and his idiot team trying to 'help' him. Currently, he was face down, a pillow over him as he tried to kill himself, since dealing with Luna and Jason both saying their, "Little boy has grown up and met a nice girl!" was not something he enjoyed. Then there was a knock on the door. Mitch jumped up, sprinting to it, trying to get away from the dynamic duo. Only to see someone he didn't expect to see.

"Elma? Lin? And Cross? What are you guys doing here?" He noticed they all had worried looks on their faces, and Rock was behind them as well, waving at him. Mitch returned it, stepping out and looking between them.

"What's going on?"

"We can't find Celica!" Mitch froze.

"Where did you last see her?" Rock leaned forward.

"This morning. A man came, saying we needed to start contributing to the city, or we would have to leave. Elma and the others showed up at that point, and convinced him to give us some time to think. Then Celica said she had a plan, and left. I tried to find her, but couldn't. I got worried, so I found Elma, and we started to look. We can't find her though. So we thought to ask you." Mitch shook his head, running in and grabbing his gear just in case.

"I haven't but I will help you guys look for her." Then Jason had the wise idea to talk.

"Be her hero! Save the day! Get the hot girl! Do it!" Luna was waving a small green flag and smirking. Mitch dropped his head, darkness seeming to cloud around him.

"Please stop..." Elma just laughed, turning to Luna and Jason, deciding to save Mitch.

"We'll just leave you two love birds alone in the barracks to live out your little fantasies." They both shut up, only to have Luna smirk at Elma.

"She's quick on her feet. I like her." Jason smirked, backing up a bit.

"I didn't know you swung that way." Something in the air became blood thirsty, and faded when Luna chases Jason back into the barracks. Mitch smiled at Elma.

"Thanks for the help, Ma'am." She gave a simple nod, motioning him to follow. Mitch started to ask people around, hoping someone saw her, since she did stand out a little bit more than the average person. Then he got a clue.

"I saw someone with these almost wolf ears heading towards BLADE tower. Wonder what she was going to do up there?" Mitch told the others, and they made their way there, seeing Vandham scratching his head in confusion.

"Commander, have you seen Celica around? The girl we helped who is friends with Rock?" Lin then added her own little piece.

"And Mitch's secret girl friend."

"I ask for five minutes of not brining this side of things up, please!" Vandham nodded at them, ignoring the medic's outburst.

"I did. She asked me how one could become a BLADE, and she looked pretty determined. I joked around, saying someone had to complete a mission solo, and she just took off. Wouldn't listen when I called for her." Elma face palmed, shaking her head slowly.

"Commander, try not to mess with people more often. Leave that to your cousin when we find him. Nobody can take him seriously." Jack sighed, once more scratching his head.

"Ya. Well, you'd better go find her. I'd feel bad if something happened to her." They did as he suggested, heading to the mission board, seeing one that had just been accepted by a non-registered person.

"Collect Sylenian Sage. Sylvalum. That's where she is. Let's go. How long have you guys been searching for her?"

"Quite a while to be honest. She could easily be there by now. We need to take the Skells and hurry there." Immediately, they loaded onto their Skells, starting to fly towards Sylvalum when Rock came up to them.

"I'm coming too! I want to help Celica! She's helped me so much, and now it's time for me to return the favor." Mitch was about to argue, but knew exactly what Rock was feeling. It was how he felt when Desmond went missing. The crazy human had helped him become a better BLADE, so naturally, he wanted to help him. He nodded to Rock, smiling.

"Got it. But we need to hurry. Can you run fast?" Rock nodded, getting ready to go.

"I'm pretty fast. I just hope I don't slow you down too much." Mitch got ready, turning his Skell to its vehicle form, and driving towards the gate. Imagine his surprise when Rock was running alongside him, mostly using all four limbs to keep up.

"You're pretty fast for a big guy, Rock!" Rock just gave a weak laugh.

"I guess." Mitch only hoped they could get to Celica before something bad happened to her.

* * *

Desmond looked at their target and then slowly lowered himself behind the rock him and Jiarg were at.

"And we can't use out Skells because?" Jiarg looked to him and sighed.

"This is supposed to be done by children, who cannot pilot Skells. Not to mention, you would have a hard time piloting ours seeing as yours is in less than perfect condition." Desmond gave an incredulous look.

"So!? Have you seen that thing!? It's like Red Hulk on steroids, and five times bigger! And you just want to go punch it!?" Jiarg shook his head.

"Not punch it, Desmond. We have weapons." Desmond glared at the prince.

"Sarcastic douchy responses are really unbecoming of you, your highness." Jiarg chuckled, watching Barnabas as he dug into the ground.

"I suppose I can just blame it on the fact I haven't been on a hunt in years." Desmond threw himself on his back, groaning.

"That makes me feel so much better. So we just go challenge it to a fight, or what?" Jiarg shook his head.

"We are to use any means to defeat this beast. Honorable or otherwise." Desmond stood, looking at Barnabas.

"How strong is he, exactly?" There was a hum in the air, and both lowered down to see a squad of three Ganglion Skells approaching Barnabas, with at least a dozen foot troopers.

"We shall see. They have been trying to kill him for a few days now. Not sure why, since he only interferes with your people, and mine. The Ganglion just fly over him usually. The reason for the sudden interest in him has confused us. So if we were to take him down first, that may cause some change in them." Desmond watched as the Skells shot plasma bullets into Barnabas' side, the bullets looking like they were hurting him, but just hitting and cooling down.

Barnabas turned, swiping one paw and taking out all but three of the ground troops. They began firing at him, and he didn't even flinch. The monster roared, causing the Skells shook in the air. Barnabas jumped up, clamping his jaws around the lower half of one of the Skells, and ripping it in half. Desmond was more impressed it could jump so high. But he noticed something.

Not only was Barnabas fairly slow, but he seemed to have bad vision, mostly turning his head as if listening, then striking. Barnabas slammed his head into another Skell, launching it away where it landed on the remaining ground forces.

"Lucky shot." Jiarg shook his head.

"He does that quite frequently. He mainly goes off sound. Watch." The final Skell began to retreat when Barnabas picked up a large boulder, waiting and cocking his head again. Then he threw it, the boulder flying through the air before hitting the Skell and shattering it on impact. Desmond was silent for a few seconds before sighing.

"Well shit. You couldn't have picked anything else?" Jiarg shook his head.

"We can always turn back." Desmond shook his head, looking around before thinking.

"Ok. We can't fight him in the open. We'll get our asses handed to us on a silver platter. We need a more confined place. Are there any caves we could lead him to that are close? He can run us down in an instant, so far ones won't do." Jiarg shook his head.

"The closest is his cave, but even that is at the far end of the plains." Desmond looked at him.

"Say that again."

"Barnabas' cave is the closest, but is still too far away." Desmond smiled.

"Barnabas has a cave, eh? How often does he go to it?" Jiarg simply looked at the human, wondering what he could be thinking.

"He travels around out here looking for food all day, and then returns to his cave at night, right before the sun sets in the sky. Do you have a plan?" Desmond nodded.

"Sorta. Show me this cave, oh mighty prince." Jiarg shook his head, slinking away silently while Desmond followed. He hoped the cave was how he wanted it to be. Or else he had no idea how they would kill this thing without Skells.

* * *

Mitch looked around, not sure how they were supposed to track her, or even how she got to Sylvalum. Celica seemed to be full of interesting little tricks. He then saw Rock sniffing the air.

"Can you follow her scent or something?" Rock nodded, looking around a bit before cocking his head.

"I think she went that way, but I'm not sure." Elma shrugged, looking around.

"It's the only lead we have, so we might as well go along with it." They began to follow Rock, when he nodded after a few minutes.

"Yup, she definitely went this way. Not too long ago either." Mitch smiled, hoping they could find her before something bad happened. Then they followed Rock to a mountainous path, eventually having it lead to a large rocky outcrop, where a cave was visible in the mountain.

"You're sure she went in there?" Rock nodded, though Mitch could see fear on his face.

"You ok?"

"Y-Yeah. It's just... Whenever the Ganglion moved me around, it was always very dark and cramped, just like a cave. Bad memories, that's all." Mitch placed a hand on Rock's and smiled.

"You don't have to go in. You could wait out here while we go find her if you want." Rock shook his head.

"No. Celica is always helping me, so I have to help her now. So, I'm going, even if I am scared." Cross smiled at him, giving a thumbs up.

"We've got your back, Rock!" Rock looked to the rookie, and eventually gave a smile and thumbs up of his own. Mitch grinned, then started to enter the cave, making sure to keep close to Rock. The cave was quite large, with many different types of creatures roaming through them. But they stayed away, deciding it wouldn't be very smart to attack four Skells and a large rock creature. Mitch still didn't know what Rock's species was. He made a mental note to ask Celica whenever he got the chance.

They had Rock following her scent, until they came to a large cavern with water in it. They were up high, looking down. There was a loud shrieking call, and someone running. They watched as Celica came running from one of the tunnels, the Sage held tightly in her hands. She ran till she reached a dead end, looking around with panic in her eyes before placing her back against the wall.

Rock and Mitch were moving towards he by that point, seeing something moving in the water right towards her. Then it burst out of the water, showing what it was. The creature was red with a singly horn on its face, and seemed like a flying fish. It shrieked, charging her and about to stab her when Rock grabbed the horn and stopped it. Celica looked up at him and gasped.

"Rock!? What are you doing here?" Rock gave a small smile, letting out a slight grunt from the force.

"I may not be able to fight, but I can be your shield. I won't let anything hurt you." He threw the creature away, only for it to be kicked into a rock wall by Mitch's Skell. He turned to them while it was stunned and motioned to the exit.

"Rock, get her out of here." Rock nodded, turning and holding a hand out to her. She climbed on, sitting in his large hand before looking to Mitch.

"Thank you, thank you so much." Mitch nodded, settling into his stance as the creature rose out of the water and roared at him. Elma and the others were next to him now, getting ready for combat.

"Let's deal with this thing." It rushed them, the group unleashing a hail of bullets, only to have it dive under the water. They all remained attentive, when Cross started to shooting where the water was swirling. The creature burst out, crying out in pain as it rose up. Cross and Elma both flew forward, drawing their own weapons. Elma dual swords, and Cross an axe. They began to slash into it together in perfect harmony, before Cross swung up, slamming it against the ceiling, where Elma stabbed both blades into it, spinning and throwing it back towards Cross.

The rook, took the axe in both hands, swinging with all his might, and splitting the creature in half, both halves falling slowly into the water. They both returned to the other two, only to see them motionless. Lin was the first to speak.

"That... was... AWESOME!" Mitch nodded quickly.

"That was like a super team attack from Mortal Fighters 3!" Everyone looked to him and his just turned away.

"Nevermind." Elma just chuckled at him.

"Come on, let's get back to your girlfriend." Mitch almost fell over at that.

"She's not my girlfriend!" Lin just laughed.

"Would you complain if she was?" Mitch was backed into a corner.

"Uh... Umm... Hey! Something shiny!" He activated his jets, flying away from them as fast as he could. To think even Elma was stoop so low. His hero! To be fair, he totally set himself up for it. He reached the mouth of the cave, seeing Rock and Celica waiting for them. Celica looked worried only seeing him.

"Where are the others?" Mitch climbed out of his Skell, smiling at her, but trying not to turn red.

"They're coming. Just do me a favor." She turned her head slightly, unsure what he meant.

"Ignore them if they start to make weird statements." Celica was about to ask when the others exited the cave, leaving their Skells.

"Are you alright, Celica?" The Xeno smiled warmly at Lin and nodded.

"Yes, thanks to you all." Lin slowly turned to Mitch, the medic bracing.

"I'm sure you're especially proud of Mitch, huh?" Celica cocked her head slightly.

"Well, yes, I suppose. He did help me, and Rock. He's a good person." Lin smiled widely, before Mitch tackled her.

"Look out, there's a Blatta!"

"No there's not, you idiot! Get off me! I will cook you with Tatsu if you don't!"

"Meh!?" Cross merely chuckled to Elma.

"He's an interesting one, don't you think?" Elma just grinned at the scene, turning to Cross and nodding.

"He certainly is. Reminds me of a certain Rook." Cross just... crossed his arms and gave a slight glare.

"I don't have any troubled with my love life." Lin heard that and shouted, "What love life!?" Cross merely went blank, walking back towards his Skell.

"Why did I agree to join BLADE again?" Elma just laughed, Celica looking around confused.

"Why did I think this was going to be the best course of action?" Rock shrugged.

"At least they're funny." Celica looked to see Mitch getting his ear pulled by Lin, begging her to stop. She smiled at him, but he didn't notice.

"They most certainly are."

* * *

Desmond only let out a low whistle.

"Some digs this asshole's got, eh?" Jiarg nodded.

"It is the biggest cave in all Oblivia. You could probably argue it's bigger than any other caves anywhere else. But to house such a large Tyrant, there must be a large cave." Desmond began to look around, looking back to Jiarg.

"How long until sundown?" Jiarg took out his comms device.

"A few hours. Why? Do you have a plan?" Desmond gave a smug grin.

"You could say that. You brought the explosives, right?" Jiarg opened his pack, showing the multitude of bombs he had brought. Desmond chuckled darkly.

"Neat. Let's get this place ready to rock that son of a bitches life." Jiarg gave a grin, handing some bombs to Desmond.

"Let's do it."

* * *

Mitch was filling out his report of things when he heard someone enter the barracks. He ignored it, knowing Luna or Jason would be able to handle it.

"Mitch! It's for you!" Mitch sighed, standing and seeing he was almost done with his paperwork too. He hated how when a new BLADE was made, the people who observed their first mission had to do such a long report. Technically Celica had done her first mission without even being a BLADE, so she was given a higher rank than most. He was excited, truly he was, just not for the paperwork. He exited, seeing Luna and Jason with smirks on their faces.

"Yes?" They moved to the side, showing Celica. She smiled, giving a small wave, to which Mitch turned red. Luna turned to Jason and smirked.

"How's about we give them some... room?" Jason groaned.

"But I wanted to see if he would explode!" Luna snapped a glare at him, causing him to turn and sprint out of the room. Luna whispered something in Celica's ear before leaving. Judging by the confused look on her face, Mitch was sure it wasn't a good thing. Celica walked forward after Luna had left, smiling at him again.

"I came to thank you for coming and helping me. You've helped both me and Rock, and we are in your debt." Mitch laughed uneasily.

"No, it's fine! Really, BLADE's help other BLADE's. Think nothing of it." She just looked at him a little bit closer before shaking her head.

"But surely there is some way I can repay your kindness?" Mitch just floundered his words.

"Uh... Umm... I don't know... You don't have to... Umm..." Celica smiled at him.

"Luna was right." Uh oh.

"You are easily flustered. I had no idea someone's face could get so red." Mitch sighed.

"Gee... Thanks." Celica leaned forward, placing a small kiss on his cheek, which almost caused Mitch to fall over right then and there.

"Think of that as my thanks."

"Uhhhhhhhh... Ok pretty Celica... I thank of thinking to the thanks... Ya..." Celica laughed quietly, starting to walk away when Mitch called out to her.

"Hey, Celica?" She turned to him and smiled.

"Yes?"

"I was wondering if... you'd... I don't know, want to go... do something sometime soon? Like a movie maybe? I know a couple really good movies from Earth I'm sure you'd really like." She smiled at him, bowing her head slightly.

"I'd love to, Mitch. You have my number, so think of a time that would work for you, and tell me." She waved, her smile never leaving as she left. The moment she left, Mitch counted to ten. When he hit ten he jumped in the air, pumping his fist.

"YES! I CAN'T BELIEVE SHE SAID YES! HAHA! DESMOND, YOUR LUCK COULD NEVER BE THIS GOOD, MATE!"

* * *

Elsewhere, Desmond fell off a rock, face planting on the ground. He looked up, his yellow eyes blazing.

"Who's talking shit!?" Jiarg sighed, helping him up.

"Come now, we only have an hour at most. We have to plant these last ones. And these ones are going to be the hardest to set." Jiarg pointed to the Stalagmites on the ceiling and Desmond sighed.

"Of course. Let's do it."

 **(Tick Tock, Payday 2)**

"Alright, let's do it like this. I'll take the larger ones, you take the smaller ones." Jiarg nodded, placing his bombs in his pack before running at the wall. He kicked off it, and started to run up the wall, when he reached the height of the first Stalagmite, he kicked off the wall, doing a backflip and slicing his claws in for grip. Desmond shook his head.

"Showoff." He looked in his bag, seeing a rope with a triple clawed hook on the end.

"Neat!" He took it out, placing his bag on his back and then looked over the rope.

"Come on luck, let me land this first try." He spun the rope, then released, watching as the hook grabbed onto an outcrop near the top of the ceiling.

"Awesome!" He planted a foot on the wall, gave a tug to check, before being satisfied and walking up the wall, making sure to be careful and take his time. He reached his first Stalagmite, taking out his sword and stabbing it into the rock. He hung off his sword, reaching into his bag and taking out the first bomb. He stuck it near the base of the rock, pressing the arm key and hearing the small beep.

"Charge set!" Jiarg looked to him from his third Stalagmite.

"Are we supposed to state when we arm them?" Desmond nodded, hanging by his right arm.

"Well, ya. It sounds really cool, too." Jiarg shook his head.

"Charge set, charge set." He pressed a key, a small beep coming from it.

"Charge set." Desmond sighed, wrapping his fingers around a jut out in the rock.

"Smart ass." He lined himself up with the next Stalagmite, then kicked off, stabbing his sword into it, his feet slipping, but his sword thankfully holding. He placed his feet back on the rock, hoisting himself up higher before grabbing the next bomb. He placed it one, hearing Jiarg call out he armed another one. Desmond hit the arm key.

"Charge set." He saw his last Stalagmite, doing the same as before, but when he stabbed his sword in, it started to slide out.

"There's my bad luck." He tried to grab on, but couldn't find anywhere to grab onto. his sword came loose, and he started to fall when he felt something grab him. He looked up to see Jiarg holding onto him, grunting slightly.

"Sometimes I wonder if you're worth the trouble." Desmond chuckled.

"Just because we got attacked by like ten angry Ictus one the way here doesn't mean it's always my fault." Jiarg growled, hefting Desmond back up, and allowing the human to replace his sword. Desmond placed the bomb, pressing the key.

"Charge set." Jiarg shook his head, looking for a way to climb down when they both heard something that made them look at each other.

 **(Battle Dark Bishop, Dragon's Dogma Dark Arisen)**

"I thought you said we had an hour!?"

"We did! I didn't think he would be back so soon today." Desmond looked down to see Barnabas walking in, multiple injuries on his body.

"Looks like some Ganglion or something had some fun with him." Jiarg nodded, keeping quiet. Jiarg saw a way they could climb down, and to safety. He tapped Desmond, pointing at it. Desmond nodded, motioning for the prince to go first. Jiarg jumped, using his claws. Desmond jumped shortly after, still using his sword. They moved around the Stalagmite, seeing they had one more before the rope Desmond had used to climb up. Jiarg jumped, waiting for Desmond in case he needed help.

Desmond jumped, his sword not able to get through the rocks so Jiarg had to hold him. But not they were stuck, Jiarg not having any free arms, and Desmond unable to get his sword to pierce the rocks. Jiarg growled.

"My... Sword... Hurry..." Desmond sheathed his sword, grabbing Jiarg's off his belt, and activating it. He stabbed it into the rock, seeing if the noise had caused Barnabas to see them. The Tyrant looked like he was sleeping, which was good for them. Jiarg started to move along, seeing a the rope. he jumped, grabbing it without a sound. He motioned Desmond to jump. He did so, grabbing it and nodding to Jiarg.

They started to lower when they heard a stretching sound. They looked up, seeing the rope beginning to break. They both began to shake their heads, praying it would hold while they lowered themselves. They were halfway down when they rope broke, and they seemed to hover there. Jiarg turned to Desmond, glaring slightly.

"I blame you." Desmond shrugged as they began their fall. They hit the ground, groaning in pain. Desmond looked up, rolling to the side as Barnabas' foot crashed down where he was. He got to his feet, helping Jiarg up and running towards the exit.

"Where's the detonator!?" Jiarg turned to him and shook his head.

"I gave it to you!" Desmond patted himself down, turning and seeing it lying on the floor behind Barnabas.

"Found it! We need to grab it, alright?" Jiarg growled.

"Why did I think giving it to you would be smart?"

"Shut up! You want to grab it, or me?" Jiarg pointed to him.

"I'll distract it. Move!" Desmond skidded to a halt, turning back and sprinting back towards Barnabas. The Tyrant made ready to clamp its jaws around him when Jiarg jumped on the armored head of the beast, stabbing his sword into one of the wounds already present. Desmond ran through the legs of Barnabas, trying to avoid getting trampled on. He dove through the legs, sliding in front of the detonator. He got to his feet, turning to see Jiarg getting launched into a wall.

"Dammit! Here goes nothing!" Desmond pulled out his gun, holding the trigger as power built up. He fired it into Barnabas' face, getting the attention of the Tyrant.

"Over here, ugly ass!" Barnabas roared at him, rushing the cyborg while he ran to the back of the cave. Jiarg was back on his feet, shaking his head in annoyance.

"Of all the stupid plans. Where are you going!?" Desmond threw the detonator to Jiarg, dodging back through the feet of the Tyrant.

"Get to the exit! Go!" Jiarg nodded running to the exit. He reached it, seeing Desmond with the Tyrant closing on him, with a hundred yards to go.

"Detonate it!" Jiarg wanted to argue, but did so, the Stalagmites above cracking and beginning their descent towards Desmond and Barnabas. The ones near the mouth of the cave went off as well, causing the mouth of the cave to begin to crack.

"Hurry, Desmond!" Desmond tried to run faster, but was already going as fast as he could. He moved to the side, both dodging Barnabas' snap, and a Stalagmite that ended up slamming into the head of the Tyrant.

"Haha! Not today, asshole!" He was almost to the exit when it started to fall. Jiarg started to slice some of the falling rocks, trying to keep them away.

"Hurry!" Desmond saw a large one falling towards Jiarg.

"Back up!" Jiarg jumped back, watching as Desmond dove to the exit, sliding under the rock before it hit the ground. The cave was only half blocked, and they back up, seeing Barnabas trying to get out, when dozens of rocks crashed onto him, forcing him back into the cave. They watched as what seemed like the whole mountain crashed onto him, making them breathe out in relief. Jiarg turned to Desmond and just looked at him blankly.

"In all my years, I have never met someone as stupid, and foolishly brave as you! But it was certainly a hunt to remember!" Desmond chuckled, falling on his back, looking to the barely lit sky and chuckled.

"At least we got him, am I right-" The rocks shook, and a loud roar come from behind them. Desmond stood, shaking his head.

"You have got to be shitting me! How did we not get him!?" Jiarg readied his sword, shaking his head.

"You spoke too soon." The rocks seemed to explode everywhere, causing the prince and human to dive away. Desmond looked up, seeing a badly injured Barnabas, with pure rage in his eyes.

"Me and my big mouth." He stood, getting his great sword ready. Jiarg was next to him, observing the Tyrant closely.

"He is badly injured. If we aim for the injuries on his head and chest, we may be able to kill him." Desmond nodded.

"Ok, let's go with that." Barnabas picked up a large rock, throwing it at them.

"After we dodge."

"Agreed." They dove to the side, Desmond seeing Barnabas about to smash down on him. He rolled away, standing and stabbing where a large gash on Barnabas' leg was. The Tyrant back away from him, roaring, only to have Jiarg stab into a weak point of Barnabas' chest. The Tyrant reared back on his two feet, seeming to shake the world, causing Desmond to cover his ears, and Jiarg to lose his grip and fall from the Tyrant's chest. Barnabas slammed back down on his two feet, eyeing them again.

"Look out!" Barnabas charged them, making them jump to the sides. Desmond rolled to his feet, seeing Barnabas turning back around, charging again, but keeping his head low. Desmond ran at the Tyrant, falling into step with Jiarg.

"Let's do this!" They jumped up, each one stabbing into an eye. Barnabas threw his head up, causing the to fly into the air, but they balanced themselves out. They held their swords above their heads, falling quickly. They both slashed into the neck of the creature, falling to the ground and kicking up dust. Desmond turned, spinning his sword before sheathing it on his back, while Jiarg took a stance with his blade held in both hands in front of him, before running his hand along it and sheathing the energy blade.

They turned, seeing the head of Barnabas fall from the body, crashing into the ground with a dull thud before the rest of the body joined it. They walked around the head, ending in front of it. They smiled at their work. Desmond turned to Jiarg and chuckled.

"Does this mean I'm a Wrothian now?"

"No. It means you are a human who is to be treated as a Wrothian, now." Desmond laughed, throwing his head back as he did.

"That will do just fine. So, what do we do about the body?" Jiarg frowned.

"We have to bring back proof of your kill." Desmond sighed.

"And this is why we have Skells, Jiarg." Jiarg kicked the head, sighing.

"Want to just drag the head back?" Desmond sighed.

"Fuck it, sure. Hopefully it isn't as heavy as it looks." He pushed it, surprised when it actually moved.

"Not too bad, actually." Jiarg and him began to push the head back, well, rolling it. Jiarg was curious though.

"How do you think the head is so light?" Desmond chuckled.

"Isn't it obvious?" Jiarg looked to him confused.

"This guy has no brains!" Jiarg grumbled.

"Not unlike someone I know..." Desmond turned to him.

"Say something?"

"No. Nothing at all."

* * *

Ga Buidhe was worried. Her prince had not returned yet, and while she knew it could take a couple of days, she had expected him and the human to return on the first day, with how they talked about wanting to get it over with. And she knew the human was impatient, meaning they had gone straight ahead and fought it. But they hadn't heard anything back. Then she saw a large circular shade moving toward the camp's entrance. She readied her weapon, then stopped when she saw a head. More specifically, Barnabas' head.

"How in Wroth?"

"Buddha! We're back!" Why was she not surprised? Desmond climbed on top of the head, smiling at her and waving. She gave a slight one back, still in shock they had pushed the head back. Jiarg was walking around the head, observing it.

"My prince! Are you alright!?" Jiarg nodded to her, a smile on his face.

"Yes. This was a most exiting hunt. Pity you could not have been there. I'm sure you would have enjoyed it." She sighed, just happy Jiarg had made it back. Then Desmond opened his mouth.

"Don't worry, I'm fine, too!" Buidhe turned to him, not angry at him. She bowed to him.

"Thank you for keeping my prince safe." Desmond looked to Jiarg, who was equally surprised.

"Did... She just... thank me?" Jiarg nodded.

"I believe so." Buidhe grimaced as Desmond landed next to her, smiling.

"No problem Buddha!" Then she kicked him between the legs, crossing her arms and turning away.

"Idiot human." Desmond was in the fetal position on the ground.

"There's the real... Buddha! Ow." Jiarg just smiled at the display.

"Buidhe, you know you have to treat him as a Wrothian now, right?" Desmond smiled on the ground, mainly at Buidhe.

"Oh ya!" She glared at him.

"I am. I just felt like kicking him... Hard."

"You could have done that anywhere! Why my manhood!?" She glared at him, leaning down.

"Because it hurts more when I target an enemy's weak point." Desmond frowned.

"This is going to be a long, however long I'm here, huh?" Jiarg nodded.

"More or less." Desmond sighed.

"So what is my job going to be, since I'm not going to be allowed to sit around all day." Jiarg smiled.

"I have the perfect job."

* * *

"This human has completed the trials of the Wrothian, making him one of us! He had fought and bled by my side, and I have seen his resolve, and know he is with us! Desmond, step forward." Desmond did so, seeing all the Wrothians looking at him, most actually wearing smiles on their faces.

"I am giving you the job of being my retainer, meaning you will work with me, and Ga Buidhe." Desmond smiled at first, happy to work with the prince, until he realized who he was also working with. He looked over to see Buidhe with an unreadable expression.

"Do you accept?" Desmond nodded.

"Sure, if I'm going to be kicked by Buidhe, might as well be on the job and getting kicked." Jiarg cracked a smile, while Buidhe finally gave him her trademark glare. Desmond smiled.

"Things are already getting interesting, huh Buddha?" Some people laughed, especially when she took a predatory step towards him, only to have the human jump behind the prince.

"Don't kick me!" He peeked out from behind Jiarg, looking to the prince who was looking back.

"You have beautiful eyes you know?" Jiarg stared back at him.

"Almost as beautiful as my sword. Should I show you a closer look of that?" Desmond backed away, shaking his head.

"I'll pass." He backed up, right into Buidhe, which caused him to gulp.

"When did she get... Why am I asking?"

"You shouldn't be." The pitch of her voice made him pale even more so than he already was.

"Can I go back to my cage now?"

 **Finally! I hated writing the Barnabas fight scene, since it just kept giving me tons of issues! But I got it, and am really proud of it. Easily my best written fight out of everything I can remember writing! (Which isn't much since my memory is as bad as a super old guy with bad memory.) So hopefully the rest will flow better, since I know I kept jumping around with my point of views. But it was to show that while one person was doing something repetitive and boring, the other was doing something else. Just so you know.**

 **Now then, hope you all enjoyed, since I did actually enjoy writing this, especially the decapitation part! Sorry, but I play Skyrim, and use a Daedric Axe, and take the heads off everything. So excuse me for being morbid and laughing at simple things like decapitations. Also, I am playing through the original Xenoblade again, and have completely forgotten how good the soundtrack in it is!**

 **X has a great battle soundtrack, while Regular has a great exploration soundtrack. In my opinion. There's on one good battle song I like in Regular, and it only really plays during cut scenes. Engage the Enemy. And then there are really good battle song for X, like Uncontrollable. But my favorite non-battle theme from X is Celica's theme. It's actual name is a bunch of numbers and letters. So check that out if you can. Or just have a special mission where you help Celica and it plays during cut scenes.**

 **Anywho, keep calm and may the Aura be with you! Peace!**


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